I bought a pack of chicken thighs to try something different on the Bullet. Lately, it’s been mostly pork and beef, with the odd holiday turkey thrown in. And, of course, my favorite: pastrami.
I had read that most BBQ teams use chicken thighs in competition. And it makes sense– they’re relatively quick cooking and somewhat forgiving on over-doneness, so you can concentrate on flavors of seasonings, marinades, etc. without worrying about the dryness often possible in over-done white meat.
The pack I purchased contained a dozen small bone-in thighs– 3 lbs. total. I prepped them 24 hours in advance by placing them in a large ziplock bag with 8 oz. of Paul Newman’s Parmesan & Roasted Garlic dressing.
Figuring I wanted to cook quick and hot, I made use of a single Weber chimney-full of leftover used briquets, which is essentially the same as using hotter-burning lump charcoal. I was shooting for 300*, measured at the top grate. I figured the hotter coals and short cooking time would make this amount of fuel sufficient.
While the charcoal fired up, I removed the thighs from the marinade, and lightly sprinkled them on both sides with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning.
In 30 minutes, the charcoal was ready, and I dumped it into the charcoal ring. I assembled the cooker, leaving the foil-lined water pan dry. I added two small chunks of hickory to the top of the coals, and placed the chicken pieces on the top grate skin-side up.
Outside temp was 42*. The cooker temp stabilized at 250* with all vents wide open, so I employed a rarely-used trick of propping the access door open about a half-inch to allow more oxygen to the fire. The temp increased to 290* in short order.
At the one hour mark, I checked several of the thighs with an instant read themometer, and they all read 176-178*– done, and with a perfect golden brown color.
The result was fabulous. Tender and flavorful, the combination of marinade, seasoning and smoke were perfect. No sauce was necessary. I had seconds, and thirds.
This is an example of a great quick cook on the Weber Bullet, and cheap, too. The thighs were $.69/lb, and the charcoal was essentially free. I look forward to doing more again real soon.