Barbeque 101:

BBQ Chicken Thighs

For those not already ‘in the know’ about the art of BBQ, this guide will provide some basics about the variety of approaches. It is a common misconception that BBQ refers to the act of slathering sweet and savory sauces on ribs and chicken. In reality, Barbeque is basically a cooking method which involves lower temperatures, longer cooking times, and plenty of smoke. Grilling, on the other hand, utilizes higher temps and a much dryer heat to ‘sear’ the meat. In other words, you ‘grill’ pork chops but barbeque pork ribs, you grill a steak but barbeque a brisket, and you grill a boneless skinless chicken breast but barbeque bone-in chicken.

If you haven’t already guessed, the approach one takes to cooking meat outdoors depends a lot on the meat to be cooked. Both pork ribs and beef brisket are notoriously tough cuts of meat and the low temps and longer cooking times allow the meat time to break down and become tender and juicy. On the other hand, steaks and pork chops are already tender and so the higher the heat, the better they eat. For this week’s recipe, we’ll be tackling bone-in chicken thighs.

If you’ve ever tried to cook chicken on the bone with skin over a hot grill, you probably already witnessed the volatile reaction between chicken grease and open flame. In other words, while chicken doesn’t need hours upon hours of slow smoking to make it edible like ribs or brisket, using a low and slow approach will preserve the moisture, infuse the meat with delicious smoke flavor, and allow you to keep your arm hair from being singed off.

With all that said, here’s my take on BBQ chicken:

Ingredients:

6-8 Chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

½ cup of dry rub seasoning (click here for dry rub recipe)

1 Chimney starter’s worth of charcoal

2 cups apple or cherry wood chips

Recipe:

Rub the chicken pieces liberally with the seasoning.

I usually put the chicken in a gallon freezer bag along with the rub and then shake it until all the chicken is coated. I also usually do this at least one day ahead and then store in the fridge. I find that a one day soak in the seasoning allows the flavors to get into the chicken so that even the folks who remove the skin will enjoy the flavors of the rub.

Begin grill prep by filling the chimney starter to the top with charcoal and then loosely crumple one and a half sheets of newspaper and stuff underneath. Light the newspaper and wait.

When the smoke is no longer billowing out of the top of the chimney starter, the coals are ready to spread on the grill grate. Allow the coals to go completely white.

At this point the grill is extremely hot so place the cover over the grill for about twenty minutes so as to allow the temperature to come down.

Place wood chips on coals, place the cooking grate over the coals, place chicken on the grate and cover once again. Avoid the temptation to check the chicken for at least the first 45 minutes, so long as your coals had time to cool down, there’s no need to worry about flare-ups or the meat burning and the first hour is critical to infusing the smoke flavor.

After about 60 minutes, it’s time to check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer. Your chicken should read 180 degrees when it’s done. I start checking at 60 minutes but find that most times it will take about 75-80 minutes for the meat to be done safely. Don’t freak out about the chicken skin getting very dark, there’s two reasons for this: 1) the sugars in the rub will caramelize and 2) the smoke will also contribute to the rich dark color.

Remove the chicken from the grill cover and let rest for at least ten minutes before serving.

Note: don’t freak out if there’s ‘pink’. When meat is properly smoked it w
ill develop pink ‘smoke rings’ which is just an indication that you’re a boss when it comes to BBQ! So long as your chicken was 180 when you took it off the grill, you’re ok.