Friends, Kossacks, foodies, lend me your ears; I come to honor chicken thighs, and to praise them; The things that we do to them lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones, which are great for stock! So let it be with the mighty chicken thigh - Let us feast in their unctuousness one of my most favorite words in the English language, and BEGIN!
Unctuous. A word used to describe rich, flavorful, moist food goodness. What better form for unctuousness to take than a piece of dark meat chicken, most especially the chicken thigh, the largest section of dark meat on a bird. A chicken thigh, dark meat abound, is a perfect palette upon which you can lay down sauces, marinades, dry rubs. It is a beautiful vehicle to unleash cooking techniques from across the planet. It takes well to fast cooking and slow cooking so that it falls off the bone.
A beautiful main course or used sparingly to flavor sides, the chicken thigh, at least to me, a dark meat lover, is a high yield product. Its meat and bones can be used to create flavorful, collagen-rich stocks that season everything from vegetables to pastas and rice. And, contrary to its white meat counterpart the breast, is economical. These days, at prices ranging from $.99 to $1.29 a pound, who couldn't use a good bargain that's also delicious?
I know many of you are probably trying to figure out what to throw on the grill for the 4th. But being a San Francisco Bay Area resident, the traditional weather for the 4th usually means cool heavy fog, so having something warm cooking in the oven on the 4th of July just makes sense. As Mark Twain says: "The coldest winter I've ever had was a summer in San Francisco."
I hope these recipes will warm you up, whatever time of year.
First things first, we need to address the health concerns we have over the fatty richness of the chicken thigh. Here's an excerpt from Dietblog:
Aside from the obvious protein benefits, thigh meat provides important minerals needed for blood production and stamina. Dark meats simply have more myoglobin proteins, the magic stuff that ships oxygen to the muscle cells. Dark meats must use myoglobins as they transfer oxygen more efficiently to the muscles than glycogen. Muscles used more frequently, get to be dark. This is why non-flying poultry drumsticks are dark meat, while breast meat is white. When dark meat is cooked it turns the myoglobins to metmyoglobins, which is brown/gray. Metmyoglobins are very high in iron (albeit there is not that much in dark meat in the first place).
Dark meats tend to contain more zinc, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, vitamins B6 and B12, amino acids, iron than white meat...Chicken dark meat contains vitamins A, K, B6, B12, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, minerals as selenium, phosphorus and zinc.
Even the fats in most of the dark meats have healthy parts. They contain Omega-3, and Omega-6 fatty acids, and other ‘healthy’ fats. It is the saturated fat content which lowers the true quality of dark meat.
Skin
Now let's face it. Who among us doesn't like skin? But for us, skin is taboo. It yields the most triglycerides--aka BAD FAT. What can you do to retain the moistness that the fat of the bird provides while its cooking AND retain the flavor of the rubs and spices you use to season? How do you use unctuousness to your advantage and still watch your fat intake? Because most of my cooking methods for thighs use the fattiness of the skin to baste and keep the meat moist I prefer cooking the thigh with the skin on and remove it after cooking.
The recipes presented here today are for both--skin on and off - your choice as to how you want to serve and eat it.
RECIPE 1 - Simple Roasted Thighs
6 chicken thighs, with bone and skin
kosher salt
sage leaves
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine
fresh ground pepper
Salt the chicken thighs a minimum of 6 hours (or overnight) before cooking and refrigerate. Six hours and over gives the salination a chance to permeate the entire thigh and flavor all of it, not just the surface.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 30 minutes prior to cooking, take the thighs out of the refrigerator to bring close to room temp prior to roasting.
While chicken is coming to room temp, slide a quarter teaspoon or more of minced garlic and one sage leaf under the skin, and grind fresh pepper on top. Place thighs skin side up in a Pyrex baking pan or a baking sheet with sides and roast for 40-50 minutes or until thigh reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, depending on the speed of your oven. Serve hot with your favorite sides or salad.
This next recipe is a new favorite from my catering business, which combines sweetness, tang and a mellow garlic flavor as well as crispiness from nuts, in this case, almonds.
Recipe 2 - Cherry Almond Thighs
This recipe is good for six good-sized thighs.
Using the Simple Roasted Thighs recipe, omit the sage and roast thighs until cooked through 40-50 minutes (until internal temp is 165). Remove from oven to rest.
In a blender, combine a cup of dried cherries (black cherries preferable, or any kind of sour-sweet cherry), 1/2 c. boiling hot water, one TBSP sesame oil, 1/2 cup of Madeira or Marsala wine and puree until it has a consistency of a thick smoothie (Add more hot water in increments if its not pureeing smoothly).
Smother chicken thighs with cherry puree and bake in oven another 10 minutes to caramelize. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top of thighs and let bake another 5-10 minutes until almonds are golden. Serve hot. (Meat should fall off the bone).
Here's a recipe right out of my childhood roots, straight from my grandfather's kitchen. Its a keeper for those cold autumn and winter nights when you need something to keep you warm and comforted. It also has a reputation for curing the common cold and flu:
Recipe 3 - Arozcaldo - Filipino Rice Soup
4-6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
1 c. cooked white short grain rice, cooked
3 medium-sized knobs of fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
two TBS olive oil
Salt
6-8 cups water (enough to cover meat completely in the pot)
In a medium sized stock pot, GENTLY simmer thighs in water with ginger and salt for 45 minutes (low and slow is best). Add the cooked rice. Simmer more until rice thickens the broth.
Brown the garlic in the oil and add to the soup to finish. Garnish with fresh chopped chives and serve!
Today or tomorrow, you might be grilling your chicken thighs in celebration of the 4th. But for now and in the future, I hope you use these recipes as a springboard for your own imagination and creativity. You probably have your own versions of a chicken thigh recipe to share with me and the Daily Kos community, which is the point of "What's for Dinner" diaries, isn't it?
I look forward to the exchange in the comments section. Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July weekend!