Published May 1, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.
For a chicken recipe with perfectly rendered skin, moist meat, and a glaze with complex flavor, we browned the skin to combat flabbiness and gave it a light coating of flour, which provided a good grip for the glaze. Corn syrup, which is half as sweet as sugar, gave the glaze just the right amount of stickiness while keeping the sweetness level under control, for our best glazed chicken recipe.
When reducing the glaze in step 4, remember that the skillet handle will be hot; use an oven mitt. To make sure the chicken cooks evenly, buy thighs that are similar in size—about 6 ounces apiece. If the glaze looks dry during baking, add up to 2 tablespoons of juice to the pan. If your skillet is not ovenproof, brown the chicken thighs and reduce the glaze as instructed, then transfer the chicken and glaze to a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and bake (don't wash the skillet). When the chicken is fully cooked, transfer it to a plate to rest and scrape the glaze back into the skillet to be reduced.
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