Chicken Wings (KISS method)


 

Frank L

New member
1. Buy whole wings, not the ones in the bag.
2. Fill a pot large enough to hold the wings with water and add 1/2-3/4 cup of salt and some ice.
3. cut the wings throw them in the salt water(if you dont know how to properly cut them google/youtube it).
4. Make sure you cut the chicken before lighting your kettle(this give the salt a little time to work)
5. I use one chimney of coals and use the two zone method.
6. When the coals are hot remove the wings from the water and pat dry
7. temp should be about 400+ degrees.
8. cook indirect for about 45 minutes to an hour, possibly more totating as needed
9. put them on the hot side to crisp the skin a little bit, taking care not to burn them.
10. serve them with your favorite sauce.

I dont put sauce on prior to serving as this makes them soggy. I prefer to dip them in some Franks diluted slightly with some melted butter to cut the heat. There are alot of wing recipes out there, sometimes simple is better, Trust me on this one.
 
Hi Frank. We were just discussing grilled wings in the grilling area of the forum. I posted the following recipe (not too different from yours, but we use a two-level fire instead of hot and indirect fires. I think our tastes must be very similar. See "reprint" of my message below...

My husband started following this recipe several years ago when I got a book of Cook's Illustrated recipes ("The Best Recipe"), and we've continued to use it as we love the results so much. I copied this from the Internet today but it looks right to me. We don't like a lot of sauce slathered on anything until the meat is ready to come off so these are perfect for us. We make a couple of sauces to use when serving. They're nice and seasoned all the way through and are crispy outside due to the two level fire. I didn't mean to insult anyone with the instructions for a two level fire but there are always some people who could use it when they're new to grilling.

Charcoal-Grilled Brined Chicken Wings
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated

3/4 cup kosher salt (or 6 Tablespoons table salt)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
12 whole chicken wings (about 2-1/2 pounds), separated into sections (following illustrations below), wingtips discarded
Freshly ground black pepper

1. In gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve salt and sugar in 1 quart water. Add chicken; press out as much air as possible from bag and seal; refrigerate until fully seasoned, 30 minutes. Remove from brine, rinse well under running water, dry thoroughly with paper towels, and season with pepper. [You could put a rub on them now if you want, but they’re delicious with just the black pepper. Trust me.]

2. Meanwhile, build a two-level fire in grill by igniting 1 large chimney (or about 6 quarts) of charcoal briquettes; burn until completely covered with thin coating of light-gray ash. Empty coals into grill and spread in even layer over bottom; place another three-quarters chimney full (or scant 4 quarts) of fresh briquettes over one-half of lit coals (pile should come to within about 2-1/2 inches of grill rack). (If using hardwood charcoal, ignite about 10 quarts of charcoal and, once it is completely covered with gray ash, use fireplace tool to push about 3/4 of it to one side of grill.) Position grill rack over coals; heat until very hot, about 10 minutes.

3. Grill chicken pieces over lower-heat area (with single layer of coals), turning once, until color is light spotty brown, skin has thinned, and fat has rendered, 8 to 10 minutes. Using tongs, move chicken pieces to high-heat side of grill; grill, turning constantly to prevent charring, until wings are dark spotty brown and skin has crisped, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to serving platter and serve immediately, with a squeeze of lemon or lime, or with an accompanying dipping sauce, if desired.

STEP BY STEP: Building a Two-Level Fire

1. Use enough briquettes to make a pile on one half of the grill that rises to within 2 to 2 1/2 inches of the grilling grate. This will amount to about 10 pounds of standard briquettes for a 22 1/2-inch kettle grill, or a little over 5 pounds for an 18 1/2-inch kettle.

2. Light the briquettes using one or two chimney starters, an electric firestarter, or a couple of firestarter cubes. Let the charcoal burn until it's completely covered with a thin coating of gray ash, about 30 minutes. Use a fire shovel to scrape some of the coals off the mound to make a single, sparse layer of coals on the other half.

3. The end result should consist of a large pile of lit coals on one side of the grill and a single layer of lit coals on the other side.

STEP BY STEP: Cutting Up Chicken Wings

1. With a chef’s knife, cut into the skin between the two larger sections of the wings until you hit the joint.

2. Bend back the two sections to pop and break the joint.

3. Cut through the skin and flesh to completely separate the two meaty portions.

4. Hack off the wingtip and discard [I save these for chicken stock].

Notes: Use a grill that is large enough to hold all the wings over roughly one-half of the rack surface. Brine the wings while the grill fire heats up to save time. Serve the wings as is, with a squeeze of lemon or lime, or with an accompanying dipping sauce.
 
It is amazing how similar our tastes are, thank you for the additional tips and I will definately try the two stage fire and post how it works. I see a lot of people struggle with wings, myself included for a long time. I was trying to do too much with the seasonings/sauces/direct/indirect/flash fry etc... and forgetting to just focus on making a good piece of chicken. Anyway, maybe a few readers will get something out of the post.
 

 

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