The other night I made a new chicken gumbo-type soup/stew that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s great. More about that later. However, while I was making that, I also made one of my most favorite guilty pleasure snacks EVAR! I learned this by once watching one of the GREATS make cassoulet, a dish that I have yet to work up the guts to try. However, on that particular episode I learned how to efficiently debone a chicken thigh and I learned how to make “cracklins”. They. Are. Heaven.
For this soup, I used 5 chicken thighs, skinned and boned. The skin went on to a nonstick baking pan, and was seasoned lightly with garlic powder, onion powder and a little bit of seasoned salt:
Pop that in a 350 oven for 15-20 mins. No longer than 20. At that point, take it out and turn over the pieces:
All that golden schmaltz (chicken fat) is rendering and things are beginning to smell heavenly. Another 15 minutes or so in the oven:
And, dear God, heaven!
Think crispy, crunchy, chicken-y, yummy, rich. Think chicken bacon. Think mouthwateringly, decadently delightful. They last a total of maybe a minute and every bite is worth it.
Try it. You’ll thank me, hate me or feel both at the same time. The lowly chicken thigh. What a gift!
Grumpy Granny 
Damn, those look good. Dangerously good!
And indeed they are!! 😉
One of my daughters would absolutely adore this. She loveslovesloves chicken skin.
Also – I have the biggest chefcrush on Jacques Pepin. Huge.
MS – Here’s a degree of separation–the friend who gave me Spanish lessons before I went to Spain taught Jacques Pepin Spanish in Playa del Carmen, Mexico! And she had the pictures to prove it!
OMG! Wouldn’t you just love to have lunch with him?? As long as he cooked, of course!
😉
OMG. OMG. OMG. Heart palpitations.