Originally <a href='http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22677293'>posted</a> on 09/26/2014:

Quote Originally Posted by KingofKings View Post
Skin off
First off - unless you are going for stewing, skin off is a bad idea, as that is literally the best part. That being said, my two favorite ways of preparing thighs are either by braising or by doing a thai stew. Thighs are loaded with connective tissue that will add a ton of flavor to a slow moist cooking process, and they will break down over time. Be aware, I do not use measurements when I cook, I go everything by feel, so the few measurements I give here will be estimates.

For braising:

Let us assume you are making, say, 6 thighs.

First off, peel and seperate around 20 cloves of garlic (yes, 20). Garlic is a member of the Allium family, meaning they it us highly aromatic and flavorful, but extremely pugent. However, exposure to low heat will kill the pungency - this genus also covers onions, leeks, and the like. Cover them in cold water, bring it up to a simmer, then drain them, repeat this process twice after the initial simmering. What you will be left with is delicious garlic cloves that are highly aromatic, soft, almost melt in your mouth (but not quite) very flavorful, entirely edible, and without any of the pungent bite that raw garlic has. An alternative, which I use in almost all other applications is to roast them, however that has the tendency to make them soft and mushy, they break down when cooked, and for this particular recipe I like the whole clove intact.

Using a heavy bottomed pan, add some neutral cooking oil (canola is absolutely fine, grapeseed is better, people who saute with olive oil are either spanish or don't know what they are doing), bring it up to nearly smoking, you want this pan extremely hot. Season the thighs with kosher salt and sear the skin side in the pan until it gets some color on it, then remove it. You may need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your pan, if you overcrowd the pan you will not get proper caramelization. By the time you are done searing these, the pan should have a bit of a crust on it, this is something that is desired.

Using the same pan, add a bit more oil if needed, and if you have access to it at this time, a bit of duck or bacon fat. Get it smoking and add in some sliced crimini mushrooms. The key to cooking mushrooms properly is a matter of heat, you want a scorching hot pan to build a crust on them, but not smoking, much like the chieken. After they have cooked down you can reduce the heat a bit, add some minced shallot, about 2 or so ought to do, but it is a matter of personal preference, sweat these in the liquid released by the mushrooms, but be careful not to burn. By this point you have finished building the caramelized crust (fond) on the bottom of the pan, so you can reduce the heat, burned shallot tastes horrible. Add in some nice balsalmic vinegar, about half a cup minimum, and a nice splash of dry red wine at this point is also not a bad idea. What you want to do is scrape the bottom of the pan to dissolve the browned bits into the liquid at this point, and bring it up to heat. Then, add the blanched garlic, lay the thighs crusted side up and fill the pan with enough chicken stock to almost reach the crust you built on the thighs. The important thing here is not to cover the crust, and to allow a tiny bit of room for once the sauce comes to a simmer.

Bring this to a simemer on the stove, and throw it in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Ovens tend to vary, so use your own discretion in the cooking time. The idea is to have the chicken cooked through and the crisped side nice and caramelized. Might take more than 45, might take less, but it is a good benchmark.

Once this is done, take the pan out, and remove the chicken from it, and set the remaining liquid on high heat. You are going to reduce it to a glaze consistency, and once it reaches that, you are going to set the heat to low and slowly swirl in small cubes of raw butter 1 or 2 at a time. This should emulsify into a thich, rich, creamy sauce - but I reiterate, do this on low heat. If you add raw butter on high heat you are going to break the sauce and end up with an oily film.

As for the chicken - when I'm using my cheap shitty bachelor apartment oven at home, I will often heat up the boiler and crisp it under there for 30 seconds or so, like I say, depends on the oven.

Anywho, to serve, any type of wilted braising green is awesome, kale blanched than wilted in a bit of the stock is great, or just go straight up wilted spinach. Asparagus blanced in salt water for about 45 seconds, shocked in cold water than grilled is also a good call. Steamed rice works great here, so does roasted garlic mashed potatoes, or herb roasted baby potatoes. Nothing wrong at all with some fried polenta cakes either.

When serving, place the thighs on top of the veggies and starch and spoon a very large amount of that sauce around the plate, but not on top of the chicken, you want that skin (or in your case, unskinned crust) nice and crisp. Finish with a nice finishing salt if you have access to it. When I started cooking I figured "fleur de sel" was where it was at, but I'm getting turned on more and more to maldon salt, the flavor is almost as good, it is very affordable (about 10$ for a small box, which realistically should last you like 6 months) and the crystals are extremely large.

One note on chicken stock: Either make your own, or get REAL chicken stock. Chicken stock is made from bones, which contain gelatin, which give your sauce body and mouthfeel while also acting as a natural thickening agent (ideally, chicken stock should look like a very loose jelly when in the fridge), the stuff they sell in grocery stores in tetra packs as "chicken stock" is usually just a weak broth with artificial chicken flavor added to it, if you use it, when you remove your thighs and go to reduce your stock, you will just end up with a sauce that has the consistency of water.

Hmm... trying to think of anything else that applies here. If the sauce is too rich, cut it with a small squirt of lemon juice, also hold off adding salt until it is finished, as you will be reducing it and that will concentrate its salinity.

Hope this helps, a great econd recipe to follow shortly, I just gotta do a beer run and make a phone call.

EDIT: for clarity