Sunday, September 30, 2012

Broiled chicken thighs




When a person spends several years perfecting a technique and he then wants to share it, the least he can hope for is to show it off well enough that folks want to take a good look at it. That's the case with these chicken thighs. Details below, but notice that I have cut the meat away from the bone slightly on the non-skin side. According to Jacques Pepin this is a good technique for even cooking. Maybe, but it cost me all of 30 seconds to do it.

Broiled chicken thighs
5 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
ground Chinese 5-spice powder
garlic powder
black pepper

Brine the thighs for 2 hours, rinse thoroughly and dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them generously with the powders and pepper. Remember you don't need salt after the brining process. If you're not willing to brine, make a different recipe.

Place them skin side down on a greased rack on a baking pan and slide under the broiler (at least 4 inches from heat source). Remember not to close the oven door all the way to avoid the heating element or gas flame from cycling off.

After 10 minutes turn the thighs skin side up and place back under the broiler. Keep an eye on them so that the skin does not burn. If they start to darken too much, turn the broiler off and the oven to 400 degrees. Close the door and cook the cute little devils to 170 degrees internal temp. Let them rest 5 minutes. Eat them, but not too quickly.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

ooooh, you know I love my chicken thighs... this looks glorious!

Unknown said...

Simple and perfect!! And of course, brining is a must!! :)

Kitchen Belleicious said...

one of the best ways to enjoy a thigh! Simple and easy and delicious

chow and chatter said...

oh nice tip and love the combo of chicken and 5 spice

Chris said...

Competition barbecuers get crazy with their chicken thighs. Some of them actually remove the entire skin, SHAVE the excess fat off of the back side of the skin and then put it back on the thigh after trimming the thigh to perfectly round.

It sure looks pretty but seems like an awful amount of work and it looks unnatural.

I'll try this slash to the bone technique. I've done the opposite - when you put a few deep slahes on the front of the thighs on a butterflied bird. Good tip, Steven.

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