What happens when you combine boneless skinless chicken thighs with my favorite grilling glaze?
You get this. Not bad for 15 minutes of work, right?
People often ask me how do you become a better cook. You become a better cook through smart
practice. Don’t start with dishes that require 10 skills that you don’t have. Work on one
or two skills at a time. A beginner who tries to make beef wellington is not brave, they
are stupid. If I’ve insulted anyone, I am sorry. Trust me I’ve done plenty of idiotic
things when I was a beginner including beef wellington.
This dish is the opposite of that. It will help you practice 2 very important skills
that you’ll need over and over again in the kitchen whether you are a home cook or
want to work in a restaurant. The first skill is using the right amount of salt on an ingredient
that you can’t taste until you cook it (steak, fish, chicken, etc). And the second skill
is controlling your heat to achieve good steady browning.
Ok, let’s do it.
I love vacuum sealed chicken thighs. They last very well in the fridge, which gives
me a lot of flexibility when to cook them. Obviously check the date when you purchase
them. No need to trim them. The little bit of fat on the outside will melt during cooking
and will become perfectly delicious. Dry the thighs on paper towels and sprinkle each thigh
with salt on both sides. Don’t just dump the salt into the bowl and mush them around.
Not only is that not very even, it’s also hard to judge how much salt you’ll need.
I move all my thighs to one side of the bowl and after I salt each thigh I put them onto
the other side. So I have a seasoned pile and unseasoned pile. You could make your life
even easier by laying them out on a cutting board in a single layer, but then you’ll
have to wash a cutting board.
After our thighs are seasoned, we need to coat them with this magic ingredient that
I call grilling glaze (the recipe and video are below). Shake it really well and drizzle
enough on the chicken to coat it lightly. Roughly 1 Tbsp per pound. I have slightly
over 2 pounds of chicken here, so I am using somewhere between 2 and 3 Tbsp. By the way,
through this whole process, only touch the chicken with one hand so that your second
hand is clean for touching the salt and the glaze bottle.
Here is what’s in this glaze. Soy sauce, pomegranate molasses, dijon mustard, garlic,
zaatar, and oil. Zaatar is not a biggie. You can skip it. This glaze produces incredible
browning and flavor. Some of you reported that your glaze solidifies in the fridge.
That’s probably because you are using olive oil. Canola oil stays liquid in the fridge.
I am guessing so would any refined oil like grapeseed or safflower. I actually prefer
this glaze after refrigeration because it becomes more viscous. I make mine every couple
of weeks, so that I always have it on hand. Just make sure you start with a clean squeeze
bottle every time. That’s another great cooking skill to learn: having useful components
up your sleeve. Your chicken should not be swimming in the glaze. It’s a very thin
coating. See how there is no puddle on the bottom of my bowl.
At this point you can cook the chicken immediately or save it in the fridge for later. Just try
to use it within 2 days.
When you are ready to cook, set a non-stick or cast iron skillet with a little drizzle
of oil over medium-high heat. I am using canola, but any oil works here. Add the chicken in
a single layer. I’ll only cook half of the chicken today and save the rest for tomorrow.
Cover with the lid. This helps the chicken cook faster and reduces the mess on your stove.
Don’t worry, it will still brown. You want to hear pretty aggressive sizzling noises.
It should take about 2 minutes to get color on the first side. If you get it way faster,
lower the heat. If you don’t get much browning after 2 minutes, raise the heat. Flip the
chicken. Cover and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Flip again and lower the heat
so that the chicken doesn’t burn. This regular flipping ensures even cooking. One of my pieces
is really thin. I bet it’s done. Yes, I got 160F, so it’s coming out. The bigger
pieces are at 140F, so I’ll cover them and give them another 2 minutes. Keep regulating
your heat during the cooking process. You want nice and steady browning, so yes, you
need to know your stove and your skillet.
Let’s flip them again and test them again. Is that nice browning or what. Make sure your
thermometer goes in sideways and into the thickest part. Otherwise the chances of you
hitting the center are slim. Also keep in mind that testing uneven and thin pieces of
meat with a thermometer is more or a sanity check than a good way to judge doneness. If
you get below 160, keep cooking, but if you get way higher, don’t panic that you overcooked
the thighs. They are so uneven that there are all sorts of temperatures inside. Chicken
thighs are extremely forgiving when it comes to doneness. If you don’t have a thermometer,
don’t worry about testing them. Just get them deeply brown on the outside and get them
out.
Let them rest for 5 minutes, and dig in. That’s not so bad for a 15 minute chicken. These
are so juicy and so soft. Look I can pull them apart without cutting. You could serve
them whole with some vegetable side. Or slice them and add to a salad, or a pasta, or stuff
into a pita. The possibilities are endless.
Here are more thought provoking culinary videos for you to check out and if you are ever in
the Boston area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.