Get a cupcake or muffin pan. Aluminum disposable would be best. Find a sharp smooth sided object and make holes in the bottom of the cupcake pan. You will also need a deep cookie sheet or an aluminum pan big enough for the cupcake pan to sit in. Have those on the ready.

Now take a chicken thigh and cut the "knuckles" off the each side of the bone. You can remove the bone completely if you like.

Remove the skin from the thigh. Take the skin turn underside up and then scrape all the fat off and trim any bad skin or fat off the edges. (This part is a pain in the ass) Also trim the thigh from fat and even up the edges.

Put the thighs and skin in a salt and water brine for a couple hours.

Take the thighs and the skin out of the brine and rinse them. After that you take the skins and put each on a thigh, wrapping the skin around so it stays.

Get your cupcake pan. Take the thighs and place them skin side down in the cupcake pan. Sprinkle on a little season of choice and put a slice of butter on each thigh. Sit the cupcake pan into the other pan(cookie sheet). Pour about a 1/4 inch of chicken stock into the cookie sheet(the other pan). Smoke for 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees.

Take the thighs and flip them over to right side up in the cupcake pan, season and then smoke them for another 30 to 45 minutes.

Take the thighs out of the cupcake pans and sauce(glaze) them on top or dip them if you like. Then put them on a oven rack and put them back in the smoker for another 30 minutes. Should be done at 170 degrees internal temp.


I've only made these a couple times but that is the recipe and method straight from my noggin. It was a good memory exercise.
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Like this? Interesting...


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Part-2..


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Wow, just WOW! That's impressive!
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https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/f...chicken-365437
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That guy has a fancy cupcake pan.
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I didn't take a picture this time but I did the previous time.



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Wow. I'm not sure I have that kind of patience.
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You don't have to scrape the skin if you just want to make them for fun. That's the hardest part. The scraped skin is to make so it you can bite through the skin cleanly. They'll look pretty and taste good just the same.
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I was just eating on the pork butt and I did really good on it. Tender and sweet. When I pulled it this morning it had a decent "money muscle" I sliced some rings out of it and they were to tender. I had some really nice tubes and then the rest pulled so nicely. Yum! It had a really nice smoke ring as well. Did I say yum? Yum! It wasn't over cooked but it just melted in my mouth. Over cooked butt is mushy this was not, it just melted in my mouth. Add my newest creation of a commercial sauce mix with some Kings Hawaiian, Stubb's and then some Louisiana Hot Sauce Habanero. Mmmm...
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I use a dry rub, I cake both sides and let it sit while I get the smoker going, I always struggle with the heat but it sits at 250ish. I cooked about two hours and then wrapped for another hour. The bone comes out clean but the ribs usually are a little tougher
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Funny thing about bbq comps is that you can turn in the perfect product and get 7's and 8's, or turn in basically shit and get a call. Several years ago we were doing the now defunct Great American BBQ out at the old dog track in KCK. I was in charge of the chicken that year. I normally debone and brine my thighs, trim the skin (don't scrape it), then smoke and glaze finish them.
We stayed up way too late and drank way too much beer and rum. I didn't get up in time to get my chicken prepped. In fact, I only had about an hour until turn in. I grabbed some drumsticks I had brought to grill up for lunch. I put them in a plastic bag with my rub and shook it around, think shake and bake. They were totally crusted with rub, lol. Knowing I had no time to smoke them and get them done, I put a chimney of charcoal in the old weber kettle that we use to keep coals ready to load onto the smoker. I grilled them over high heat, turning them constantly. They developed a nice color and char. Then I sauced them and continued to turn them constantly, developing even more char and layers. I put them in the turn in box and we all laughed our asses off. Well, you guessed it, we got a call for chicken and a 9th place ribbon out of 212 teams.
I tried to replicate it the following year and ended up with middle of the pack scores. Must've just got the right table of dumbassed judges.
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So what's an easy way to smoke chicken thighs and legs and get good smoke flavor, but also get crispy skin? Smoke low at 225F till ??? and then crank to 400F or something till the skin crisps up? Then glaze?

Or maybe just roast at 375F with a smoke tube?
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This is soooooo true. After a few too many years of that we started having friendlies at a friend's farm (who owns a landscaping business), and it was so much cooler. His landscaping clients were, perhaps, the big winners. The competition was just as competitive, just as serious, but the judging was done by peers not competing in that area (you couldn't compete in them all). I'll never go back. At the end of the day we camped at his pond, rode horses, drove tractors, did horse rides, and (in my case) watched lawn tractor races.

There was never a better competition I spent money on to get a table of judges who made you scratch your head.
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Broil them to finish off for a crispy skin
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