Bone-in, skin-on thighs are the most forgiving thing you can put on a grill. The bone slows the heat down, the fat under the skin bastes the meat as it renders, and the difference between 165°F and 180°F is barely noticeable. A chicken breast punishes a thirty-second mistake; a thigh shrugs it off.

Skin side goes down first, always. Cold skin on a hot grate renders and crisps in the first six minutes while the meat above it is still gentle. Flip it early and the fat never renders, so you end up with rubbery skin nobody eats. Six to eight minutes, one flip, and that is the whole cooking method.

Hot Spit gets brushed on only in the last few minutes, and that is not a stylistic choice. This sauce has sugar in it, sugar burns at grill temperature in about four minutes, and burnt sugar tastes like ash no matter how good the habanero underneath it is. Marinate in it, cook without it, then paint it on at the end.