BBQ Chicken - Competition Style

[TripleB]

I've mentioned before in other posts that I'm a KCBS BBQ judge and I've competed a few times. The BBQ competition field is on a bit of a hiatus right now with COVID-19 running rampant. So for my son's Bday, I thought I'd work on my competition BBQ chicken. So what's competition chicken? 99% of the time it is smoked thighs with the skin on. Occasionally you might see legs and, once in a blue moon, breasts. But it is mostly thighs.

So here are my pics. Scrapping the fat off the skin, seasoning, attaching the skin back on and smoking. I brined the thighs for 24 hours and smoked on my PK360 (which did a great job of holding my temp [250 d] rock steady) and used pecan chunks.

Sorry, I don't have the 'first bite' pics. Overall, it was ok. A bit over seasoned (the rub did not have any salt in it), too salty and the skin was not bite through. Think I'll go back to injecting, only apply the rub under the skin and raise the temp up to 300-350 d to get the skin bite through.

If I was scoring, I'd give it an 8 (presentation), 7 (taste) and 7 (tenderness). 9 is the highest you can score in any category. You might think that I'm giving myself a high score, but this score would place me at the bottom of the competition.

[Henrik]

Sure looks good! A question, since I haven't done competition: is it common to remove the skin and then re-wrap it? How do you attach it back on, tooth picks?

[TripleB]

Yes, it is common to remove the skin, scrap off the fat and reattach. Some competitors fold over the skin (as it is still attached on one side), scrap it and then reattach. If you don't secure the skin, it will shrink. Some competitors use the breast skin, since it is thinner than the thigh skin. Toothpicks have to be removed before presentation or you'll be marked down to a "1" on the appearance score, which literally means you are disqualified for a foreign object in the box.

[Henrik]

Thanks, may have to try that to see how it works.

[Greygoose]

I’d eat’em !!!