Hook Ya MOJO Chicken Thigh With a Grilled Pineapple Salsa

This is the chicken we make when we want something that tastes like a Saturday on the water but only takes a Tuesday's worth of effort. Orange and lime, a handful of smashed garlic and our Mojo seasoning soak into bone-in thighs for two hours, and the whole kitchen smells like citrus and garlic before you've even turned on the stove.

The thighs go into a cast iron pan skin side down and then straight into the oven, which is how you end up with meat that falls off the bone under a skin that actually shatters. Over the top goes a pineapple salsa charred on the grill — sweet, a little heat, a squeeze of lime — and the plate is done. It's the kind of dinner people ask you about.

The mojo marinade

Makes enough for 5-6 of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (serves 4-5).

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Hook Ya Mojo seasoning
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
  

Whisk everything together in a bowl until the oil is fully worked in. It should taste bright and a little too strong on its own — it mellows a lot once it hits the chicken.

Add the thighs, turn them to coat, and refrigerate for 2 hours. That's it. Not overnight. Citrus keeps working on the meat long after the flavor has gone as deep as it's going to go, and past about 4 hours the outside starts to turn soft and chalky. Two hours gets you all the flavor with none of the texture problems, and it means you can make this the same afternoon you eat it. More marinade time is not better here, stick to 2 hours :-)

No added salt — the Mojo seasoning carries it.

Cooking the thighs: cast iron first, oven second

Preheat the oven to 425°F before you start the sear so the pan goes straight in.

1. Dry the skin. Pull the thighs out of the marinade and pat the skin side dry with paper towels — really dry. Scrape off any bits of garlic clinging to the skin. Sugar from the orange juice will scorch before the skin crisps if it goes in wet.
2. Oil the pan. Pour enough olive oil into a cast iron skillet to cover the bottom surface and bring it to medium heat.
3. Sear skin side down, 4 to 5 minutes. Lay the thighs in skin down and leave them alone. Don't move them, don't press them, don't peek. They're ready to flip when the skin has turned golden and releases from the pan on its own.
4. Flip, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn them over and cook the flesh side the same way.
5. Into the oven, 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered. Same skillet, straight into the 425°F oven. No lid — a lid traps steam and undoes everything the sear just did.
6. Pull at 175 to 185°F. Thighs aren't breasts. Dark meat has enough connective tissue that it's actually tougher at 165°F; it turns tender once it pushes past 175°F, and the bone forgives the extra heat.
7. Rest 5 minutes, skin side up. Resting on the skin side will soften it. Leave it face up on the board.

Discard the marinade the chicken sat in.

Grilled pineapple salsa

Make this while the chicken marinates. It's better after it sits an hour, and it holds a day in the fridge.

• 1 fresh pineapple, peeled and cored (about 2 cups diced)
• 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon Hook Ya Mojo seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Char the pineapple. Cut it into thick rings or planks and grill over high heat 2 to 3 minutes per side until you get real char marks. No grill? A dry cast iron pan on high does the same job.
2. Dice it small. Let it cool a few minutes, then dice to about 1/4 inch. Smaller than you think — big chunks turn this into fruit salad.
3. Mix. Toss the pineapple with the onion, jalapeño, bell pepper, lime juice, Mojo seasoning and salt. Taste it: sweet, then hot, then sour, in that order.
4. Let it sit. 10 to 15 minutes minimum so the onion softens and the juices come together. Serve at room temperature.

Want it hotter? Leave the jalapeño seeds in, or skip the jalapeño and add a splash of datil hot sauce instead.

Putting it on the plate

Spoon the pineapple salsa over the thighs right before serving, not before — the salsa's juice will soften the skin if it sits. The acid in the salsa and the crunch of the skin are the whole plate; you don't need a sauce.

Yellow rice or cilantro-lime rice is the easy side. Tostones or sweet plantains are the better one if you've got them, and they fry in the same cast iron while the chicken is in the oven.

If you've got leftovers, pull the meat off the bone and fold it into tacos with the salsa the next day. The skin won't survive the fridge, but the meat only gets better.