Okay, so tonight I cooked chicken thighs using the Adam Perry Lang (APL) recipe posted on his site. Yes, I took Harry Soo's class last January (Harry knows chicken), but I haven't been able to prepare a chicken thigh to date that was anywhere close to competition grade...until now...I think.
So I setup the WSM with the stoker at 275 and prep'd.
I decided to go with Foster Farm chicken thighs.
I put them in a ziplock and dumped a bottle of Kraft Italian dressing in there. Squeezed out the air and put it in the fridge for a few hours. I got an aluminum pan and placed the chicken skin DOWN. I seasoned them with my favorite rub and then I covered the pan with foil. I stuck it in the WSM and let them cook for 45 min.
I removed the pan and let sit on the table for 15 min.
I removed the thighs and seasoned them again and placed directly on the WSM grill. Smoked for another 45 min. Removed from WSM, sauced and served. I liked it, a lot. Being that my wife was swimming laps, I kept her share in the oven at 150.
Here's where it gets good, at least for me. My wife found the chicken and helped herself. When I walked back into the kitchen, and with no prompting, she exclaimed the chicken was great! Moist and bite through skin, really. I am one happy guy.
I am especially happy because I didn't go to any extra effort prepping the thighs. I did not trim them at all. So I am thinking I can get serious the next time and get an even better result. For me, this is a breakthrough.