So I got a great deal on chicken thighs. Managers special even though the sell by date wasn't for another 5 days! Decided I would try Jeff's pulled chicken recipe after my friend had been raving about it. So I brined the chicken for 3 hours. Simple bribe of water, salt, sugar, and hot sauce. I used sriracha because besides buffalo sauce it was all I had. Rinsed and here they are:
Pulled the skin back and coated with mustard and a healthy dose of Jeff's rub.
Pulled the skin back over and put them in the MES30 around 230 with AMNPS burning a blend of hickory, maple, apple, and cherry.
Here they are about 2.5 hours in:
After about 3.5 hours they were done:
Let them cool for a bit and began pulling:
I'm glad I took my friends advice and tried this. Jeff knocked this one out of the park. The smell in my house when i brought these inside was incredible. I've made pulled chicken before with good results but never thought to brine. Dark meat chicken is juicy even without the brine but the brine just disperses the flavor throughout the meat, not just where the rub and smoke penetrate but all the way to the middle. To serve I will sprinkle some more of Jeff's rub and make a batch coleslaw, and serve it on potato buns. I'll try to take some pics of the plating. Might not be for a few more days as I plan to reheat this for serving. Thanks for looking!
-Chris
Pulled the skin back and coated with mustard and a healthy dose of Jeff's rub.
Pulled the skin back over and put them in the MES30 around 230 with AMNPS burning a blend of hickory, maple, apple, and cherry.
Here they are about 2.5 hours in:
After about 3.5 hours they were done:
Let them cool for a bit and began pulling:
I'm glad I took my friends advice and tried this. Jeff knocked this one out of the park. The smell in my house when i brought these inside was incredible. I've made pulled chicken before with good results but never thought to brine. Dark meat chicken is juicy even without the brine but the brine just disperses the flavor throughout the meat, not just where the rub and smoke penetrate but all the way to the middle. To serve I will sprinkle some more of Jeff's rub and make a batch coleslaw, and serve it on potato buns. I'll try to take some pics of the plating. Might not be for a few more days as I plan to reheat this for serving. Thanks for looking!
-Chris