Cupcake Chicken Cordon Bleu style

[Winz]

Had fun making cup cake chicken for the first time last week.  I decided to tweak the recipe by combining cupcake chicken with chicken cordon blue.  Started with 6 chicken thighs and removed the skin and deboned them.  Brined the thighs overnight and scraped the skins of all the fat:





The assembly:  wrap some gruyere cheese in prosciutto, then wrap in thigh meat and finish with seasoned skin.





Thanks to @THUNDERDOME I now know that the rectangular loaf pans are the way to go.  The holes  are there because I put this pan into an aluminum roasting pan filled 1/4 with chicken broth.  The chicken braises as it smokes, keeping the meat moist.








Cooked in the smoker with cherry wood lumps at 275.  Here they are after 1.5 hours.  Just flipped them and seasoned the tops.  They now go back in for 30 minutes.









After 30 minutes, I pulled them, sauced them, and put them back in the smoker using just a small sheet pan.  This allows the sauce to set.  The finished product:








This has fast become my favorite chicken cook.  It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours of smoking time assuming a hot and fast temp (275 to 300).  The chicken comes out with a really great flavor and is a very unique presentation that most guests have not tried.


Winz

[pbe gummi bear]

Awesome job, Winz. That loaf tray looks perfect for single servings.

[WNC]

Those look great!
You got me wanting to get some cupcakes trays

[THROUGH THE MUD BBQ TEAM]

Absolutely gorgeous.  Hopefully your guests realize how much work went into those 7 pieces of chicken!

[THUNDERDOME]

Awesome cook!

[wyd]

Those look so damn good.  One I day I will have to try doing something like this.  I never scraped the skin before but might have to try that and see if I can get that bite thru competition style skin.

[EricD]

@Winz Those look great.  I think I want to try this.   I've never done chicken this way.  Any tips on how to get the skin and meat off the bones for a newbie?

[Big Dawg]

Those are just gorgeous, @Winz.  Hope you don't mind me stealing the recipe ! ! !





BD

[Winz]

@Winz Those look great.  I think I want to try this.   I've never done chicken this way.  Any tips on how to get the skin and meat off the bones for a newbie?

Boning them out is pretty straight forward - just need a decent boning knife.  As for the skin, removing the fat is a messy job.  The best tip I can give is to start with COLD skin.  While I was marinating the thighs, I refrigerated the skins and pulled them out of the fridge one at a time to scrape.  Skin side down, fat side up (its more yellow) on a cutting board, use your boning knife to cut the fat away from the skin.  This step is totally optional, but I think it makes a big difference.  Lots of videos online - search cup cake chicken.

Those are just gorgeous, @Winz.  Hope you don't mind me stealing the recipe ! ! !

BD

Thank you and please do! It is a fun thing to cook on a kettle or a smoker.


Winz