You can achieve deeply seasoned grilled meat in a variety of ways. Two of those ways—marinating the meat before grilling and coating the outside with seasonings—work just fine, but they’re often only skin-deep. What if there was a way to get them to work even better? There is. Let me introduce you to seasoning pockets.
I was recently looking at Cook’s Illustrated’s new July/August 2021 issue, which includes a Grilled Chicken with Adobo and Sazón recipe that infuses the meat with deep flavor using these aptly named pouches of flavor.
The process is pretty simple. When using chicken leg quarters, take a sharp knife and make three or four slashes: one or two across the thigh (depending on the size), one across the joint, and one across the drumstick. Each of these slashes should hit the bone.