Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks
Tender chicken drumsticks in a sweet-salty Japanese teriyaki marinade made from soy sauce, mirin and honey. Slow smoking intensifies the umami flavors and caramelizes the natural sugars of the glaze into a beautiful surface. An elegant fusion of Japanese tradition and western smoking technique.
Ingredients(for 1 kg)
Instructions
Marinade & Marinating
10 minutes + 6-12 hours resting timeBriefly bring soy sauce, mirin, honey, sake, garlic, ginger and sesame oil to a boil in a pot, let cool. Score chicken drumsticks, place in a zip bag with the cooled marinade and refrigerate for 6-12 hours.
Prepare Glaze & Preheat
30 minutesHeat remaining marinade in a pot to 74 °C and reduce by half to obtain a safe glaze. Preheat smoker to 110-125 °C. Add apple and maple wood chips. Let drumsticks drain and acclimatize.
Smoking
2-2.5 hoursSmoke chicken drumsticks on the grate at 110-125 °C. Turn after 1 hour. Monitor core temperature. At 75 °C core temperature, start brushing on the reduced teriyaki glaze every 15 minutes until 82-85 °C is reached.
Resting & Serving
10 minutesRemove drumsticks from smoker and let rest uncovered for 10 minutes so the glaze can dry slightly. Garnish with toasted sesame and sliced spring onion. Serve with jasmine rice.
Pro Tip
Bring the remaining marinade to at least 74 °C and reduce it to obtain a safe and concentrated glaze. Make sure the smoker does not get too hot, as the sugar content of the teriyaki glaze burns quickly at excessively high temperatures.
Save this recipe to your smoking journal?
With Curination you can scale recipes, track projects, document by voice and browse over 1,269 recipes.