This is one of my favorite recipes. It makes a big batch of chicken thighs that I love to take to work for lunch. I adapted it from a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for a slow cooker so I could use it in a Dutch oven. You could also adapt it for the grill if you don’t live in a hovel like I do and you actually have access to a grill. It’s a simple process of creating a complex sauce then braising some chicken thighs in that shit. Once you’re done with the braise you transfer the chicken to the broiler (or a grill if you want to make me jealous and cut you out of my friend group) and spread the remaining sauce over the chicken so it caramelizes real nice on the chicken. I tend to serve it over a simple – but bastardized – rice and peas (black beans) recipe.
“You could also adapt it for the grill if you don’t live in a hovel like I do and you actually have access to a grill.”
Whatever, here’s the recipe (from America’s Test Kitchen):
- 8 scallions, chopped course
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 habanero chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced ¼-inch thick
- 2 tbsp. molasses
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp. dried thyme
- 2 tbsp. ground allspice
- 1 tsp salt
- 4lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Puree the scallions, oil, chiles, ginger, molasses, garlic, thyme, allspice, and salt in a food process. You want to do this until it’s nice and fluid, without any chunks. You could also use a blender for this process.
Throw all of the chicken in the Dutch oven and pour about half of the puree into the mix. You may need to add some water or chicken stock (if you have it) to ensure the chicken is pretty much covered.
Turn the oven on medium-high heat and bring the whole thing to a simmer, then cover it and turn it down to the lowest heat possible. Chill, drink a beer.
After about 25-30 minutes, check on the chicken with a fork and see if it is tender enough to be able to shred (BUT DON’T SHRED IT). If it’s not, leave it in there another ten minutes, it it’s ready to go then take it out and transfer it to a baking sheet lined with foil (or not lined with foil, this just saves you some clean up). Put all of the chicken skin-side down and brush on about half of the remaining sauce puree (that you don’t use for the braise, that shit’s dead to me now).
Turn on the broiler and pop the chicken in there, keep it a good 4-6 inches from the flame. After about 6 minutes check on it and see if it’s starting to brown/char. If it’s not charred yet, keep it in there until it does, just check it regularly). Once it’s charred on one side, take it all out, flip the chicken, put the remaining puree on the skin side of the chicken and throw it back in there until it looks nice and charred and you are having a real hard time not eating it.
When it’s all done, take it out, let it cool for a bit then serve it with whatever the hell you want: rice, beans, both, salad, fried plantains? Shit I don’t know, just pick something.
