Tea Smoked Chicken Thighs With Pomegranate Glaze Recipes

TEA SMOKED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Cool slightly, and then crush in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle with the salt and five-spice powder until very fine. Rub seasoned salt all over the chicken thighs. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
• Bring the chicken to room temperature about 30 minutes before cooking.
• Line the bottom of a wok, skillet or heavy pot with a double layer of aluminum foil. Mix the rice, tea and brown sugar together and mound on the foil. Set a steamer on top, and evenly space the chicken on the rack. Cover and cook over high heat. Hot smoke the chicken until smokey-brown colored and cooked through, about 12 minutes.
• While the chicken cooks, whisk the Shao-sing wine or sherry, soy, ginger, and sesame together in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, remove from heat and steep for 5 minutes. Brush over cooked chicken.
• To serve: Dice the chicken into very small pieces. Toss with the scallions and peanuts in a medium bowl. Cut the lettuce leaves into 40 squares or triangular scoops. Place a drop of Sriracha on top of each lettuce cup, and top with about 2 teaspoons of the diced chicken. Squeeze lime juice over the top, and drizzle the remaining soy-ginger sauce over the chicken. Serve.

TEA-SMOKED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH POMEGRANATE GLAZE

Steps:

• Zest one orange and peel other; set zest and peels aside. Cut oranges in half and squeeze juice through wire mesh strainer into a bowl. Reserve juice.
• Scatter orange peels, tea, star anise and cinnamon around center of bottom of smoker. Cover with drip tray and wire rack. Arrange thighs on rack and season generously with pepper and salt. Place on stove over medium heat and after first wisp of smoke appears, cover tightly with lid. Smoke for 20 to 25 minutes. Shut off heat and rest for 5 minutes with lid on.
• While chicken is smoking, combine zest, hoisin, pomegranate molasses and sriracha in a small bowl. Add about half reserved juice, more if sauce is too thick. Set glaze aside.
• Pour oil in a nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron pan over medium high heat. When hot, add chicken, and cook about three minutes per side. Reduce heat to medium low, brush both sides of chicken with glaze, and cook for another few minutes until crisp. Serve immediately, with extra sauce on the side.

SMOKED AND GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Prepare the strawberry gastrique: Puree strawberries in a blender on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
• Cook sugar in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted, amber in color, and nutty in aroma, about 5 minutes. Carefully add vinegar (mixture will crystallize immediately and begin to boil) and reduce heat to low. Cook sugar mixture, stirring frequently, until crystallized sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add strawberry puree and thyme and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Cover to keep warm until ready to use.
• Prepare chicken: Open the bottom vent of a grill completely. Light a charcoal chimney starter filled with briquettes. When briquettes are covered with gray ash, pour them onto the bottom grate of grill, and then push to 1 side of grill. Place 3 to 4 applewood chunks on top of hot coals. Coat top grate with oil. Cover grill and insert an instant-read thermometer into a vent in the lid.
• Stir together lavender, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle chicken thighs evenly and liberally with lavender mixture.
• Place chicken thighs on the preheated grill, skin-side up, over the side without coals. Cover and smoke, maintaining temperature inside smoker between 225 and 250 degrees F (107 to 120 degrees C), for 1 1/2 hours. Brush with 1/4 cup gastrique, cover again, and smoke until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 170 degrees F (76 degrees C), 15 to 30 more minutes.
• Transfer chicken thighs to a large plate or platter and brush lightly with another 1/4 cup gastrique. Let rest for 10 minutes. Serve with remaining gastrique, if desired.

TEA-SMOKED CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a dry, small, heavy skillet toast peppercorns over moderate heat, shaking skillet, 5 minutes. Cool peppercorns and with a mortar and pestle or in an electric coffee/spice grinder coarsely grind. In a small bowl stir together peppercorns and salt.
• Pat chicken dry and rub inside and out with peppercorn mixture. Transfer chicken, breast side up, to a steamer and steam over boiling water, covered, 25 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through.
• While chicken is steaming, line bottom and lid of a wok with heavy-duty foil. In wok stir together loose tea and brown sugar until combined well.
• Arrange a metal rack about 2 inches above tea mixture and transfer chicken, breast side up, to rack in wok. Heat wok, covered, over moderately high heat until wisps of smoke begin to appear, 2 to 3 minutes, and smoke chicken, covered, 6 minutes. Turn chicken over and smoke, covered, 6 minutes more. Remove wok from heat and let chicken stand, covered, 15 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to a cutting board and brush lightly with oil.