I had a couple of cryovac packages of Perdue chicken thighs from BJ's Wholesale in the freezer. They have 4 pieces in each package. I thawed them both out and put them in a Ziploc bag with 1/2 cup of Spur Tree jerk seasoning (wet rub), which came with my order of pimento wood chips, and 1/4 cup soy sauce to make a marinade. I marinated for about 24 hours in the fridge, turning and mushing the bag around a few times.
Adapting a method from Serious Eats, I soaked a couple of cups of bay leaves in hot water for 20 mins while the smoker was pre-heating to 250°F. Then I made a sort of mat of the soaked leaves on the smoker grate and laid the thighs on it not touching each other. I put pimento wood chips in the smoker's chip loader which holds about 1/2 cup. I put the Mav food probe into the thickest part of the biggest thigh and set the alert for 160°F. In about 40 mins the Mav was reading 158°F so I went and lit my gasser and set it to warp 10 to pre-heat. When it was hot, I took the thighs out of the smoker and put them on the gasser, skin side up. The hardest part of this was knocking the bay leaves off the bottom of the chicken. I cooked at warp 10 turning frequently and moving the pieces around to get even browning/caramelization on both sides. Here are the results:
The whole rack of thighs:
Close-up of the skin side:
Close-up of the bottom side:
I served with garlic mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Juicy and perfectly cooked through. the skin was bite-through, which is fine for me and the most I could expect with the chicken being wet-brined/marinated.
The next time I will probably add some minced scotch bonnet/habaneros to the marinade since it was not quite as hot/spicy as I like my jerk.
DEW
Adapting a method from Serious Eats, I soaked a couple of cups of bay leaves in hot water for 20 mins while the smoker was pre-heating to 250°F. Then I made a sort of mat of the soaked leaves on the smoker grate and laid the thighs on it not touching each other. I put pimento wood chips in the smoker's chip loader which holds about 1/2 cup. I put the Mav food probe into the thickest part of the biggest thigh and set the alert for 160°F. In about 40 mins the Mav was reading 158°F so I went and lit my gasser and set it to warp 10 to pre-heat. When it was hot, I took the thighs out of the smoker and put them on the gasser, skin side up. The hardest part of this was knocking the bay leaves off the bottom of the chicken. I cooked at warp 10 turning frequently and moving the pieces around to get even browning/caramelization on both sides. Here are the results:
The whole rack of thighs:
Close-up of the skin side:
Close-up of the bottom side:
I served with garlic mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Juicy and perfectly cooked through. the skin was bite-through, which is fine for me and the most I could expect with the chicken being wet-brined/marinated.
The next time I will probably add some minced scotch bonnet/habaneros to the marinade since it was not quite as hot/spicy as I like my jerk.
DEW
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