Brining wings

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Has anyone had any experience or luck brining chicken wings? Does it help or are they to small to make a difference? Is it more of a marinade situation? Ideas or suggestions would be great.
Mucho Gracias
 
I can't speak for brining wings, but here's what I do.

John in MD from the BBQ Forum tried my recipe for the Super Bowl and LOVED them:

10 lbs segmented wings...I buy 'em whole and cut 'em apart...toss the tips.
3/4 cup Paul Kirk Master Class Rub or your favorite.
1 8 oz. bottle of your favorite hot sauce.


Combine it all in two seperate zip locks and moosh around until they're all covered. Throw 'em in the fridge overnight.


Next day...fire up the cooker so that the grate temp is 300?.

Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I then combine the following ingredients in a sauce pan over med-high heat and bring to a slow bubble...


1 8 oz. bottle of hot sauce.
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt (I use jalepeno salt I got for Christmas)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 stick butter
pinch cayenne or red pepper flakes


10 minutes before the hour is up, I brush the wings with the above sauce.

Enjoy
 
I haven't brined wings by themselves, but on whole chickens I know it makes a world of difference. I play this by ear depending on how much bird I have, so mesurements are all approximate, but here is what I do for Brine for 2 3 pound whole birds:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (or more) of kosher or pickling salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
Enough water to cover the birds.

I heat this up a little on the stove to disolve everything than soak my chickens overnight. I also use brining for my thanksgiving turkeys, no matter what the cooking method is.


------------------
Eric Pedersen
 
Here's an excerpt that I adapted from Cook's Illustrated (July/August 1999, http://www.cooksillustrated.com/) that I've found quite helpful about brining and grilling wings over a 2-level heat. Smoking could easily replace the low-heat grilling method. Cook's usually has very reliable recipes and techniques and they go the extra mile to test them thoroughly. Hope I'm not violating any copyright rules here.

Serve the wings as is, with a squeeze of lemon or lime, or with one of the sauce recipes that follow.

BASIC BRINE:
3/4 cup kosher salt OR 6 tablespoons table salt (if substituting table salt for kosher salt, always use half as much table salt)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (Cook's uses 3/4C) (or 6 tablespoons molasses or honey instead of the 1/2 cup sugar)
4 cups cold water
4 pounds whole chicken wings, tips removed (it's easier to grill and turn wings if the two large sections are not separated until after they are cooked)

Frank's Red Hot Hot Sauce OR one of the dipping sauces in the article (Basic BBQ Sauce, Hoisin-Sesame Dipping Sauce, Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce)

BRINE WINGS. In a gallon-sized zipper plastic bag, dissolve salt and sugar in the water. (A gallon-sized bag will hold up to 8 pounds trimmed wings.) Add chicken; press out as much air as possible from the bag and seal. Refrigerate until fully seasoned, 30 minutes (I prefer an hour). Remove wings from brine, rinse well under running water, dry thoroughly with towels, and season with pepper or any desired salt-free seasoning.

When I do these on the WSM, I'm going to do an optional step - brine them the night before, dry them, and leave them uncovered on a rack in the fridge to dry the skin. I'll probably put a rub on them at that time as well.

Hope this is helpful, or at least a good starting point. It's something that can be done at more or less the spur-of-the-moment - almost as close to instant gratification as you can get with smoking!
Rita
 
Wow Rita!!!

Great post. If the copyright police bust you for that, all us Bullet-heads will hopefully kick-in to bail you out.

I think the tip about allowing the wings to dry in the fridge is a key idea. This is what the Chinese supposedly do to get the crispy skin on Peking Duck.

My experience is that brining any poultry is a win-win situation. The best game hens I ever made were for a work party here at Weber last Halloween. I only brined them for 3-4 hours, and then smoked them for another 3 1/2 hours. They were the best poultry I ever had, and my co-workers felt the same. I wish I had the time to dry them, but then this Halloween is only about 60 days away.

Just remember the obvious, once you brine be careful about adding any more salt to the skin. And also, it's always better to under-brine than over-brine. I might have been a little too cautious with my game hens, but when you're not sure...grilling for a bunch of co-workers isn't the time to experiment.

Thanks for the great tip Rita!

Weber Dave
 
I, too, am a big believer in brining. And thanks for noting about using a salt-free rub (forgot to mention that). That's the beauty of making your own rubs. I usually make most of them salt-free and season the meat with salt as needed (if I haven't brined it) before applying the rub. Makes the rubs more versatile.

As I've read through some of the posts, I see that it's recommended to smoke poultry at a higher temperature in order to get the fat out of the skin and help crisp it up slightly. Do you or anyone else have any suggestions as to what a good target temp at the rack should be for wings specifically and other poultry in general?

Thanks for the offer of bailing me out - it gives new meaning to "support group!" Also, you won't catch me using the old bicycle tire pump trick to pump air under the skin of the wings like they do with Peking duck......hmmmmmm......that may not be as crazy as it sounds....... ;-)

Rita
 
Hi Folks
Thanks for all the ideas
I've tried brining for 3-4 hours and had good results. But I've used a simpler brine.
So can you actually taste the other flavors?
As far as heat I cook @ 230-250 for about 1.25
to 1.5 hours but that's only because that's what I've been told. I have not experimented much. longer? shorter?
I've heard hotter for crisper skin. How hot?
Then again I just read about smoking them in
a glass dish with sauce. so go figure. I think
I'm too much of a purist for that but it might be good...blah blah.
What do you guys think?
 
I've always liked fried buffalo style wings the best. If I were to smoke them I would use a 300-350 deg. temp to get the wings crispy. Hard to overcook a wing, the thing to do is to get the skin right. Or smoke at normal 225-250 and then finish on a hot grill to crisp it up.
 
Thanks, Jeff -- That looks good and I'll give both methods a try. Those small wings would probably soak up the smoke pretty quickly. I'm so focused on the smoker lately that I forget about the grill, but that's a good way to flavor them up ahead of time and finish at the last minute.
Regards,
Rita
 
Hi Again,
So as far as the skin goes...
does brushing them with oil or buter help in
the crisp way or is it not good?
Thanks Again
John
 
John, wings have quite a bit of fat in them as it is, so I doubt that you'd need to add any extra since they'll probably self-baste on their own.
Rita
 
Rita,

I will be trying out a peking duck recipe in the near future doing all the usual stuff like boiling the sugar water, blowing up the duck, letting it dry with the fan, then I will smoke it 300-350 deg. Will let you know how it came out.
 
Now that's a project and a half! Can't wait to hear how it turned out. Best of luck!
smile.gif
 
Another thought -- have you tried any tea-and-spice smoking on the big black bullet? Or would it take too much tea, etc.? It's been a while, but I've done it in a wok, home-made stovetop smoker, and on the old Weber Genesis 2 gas grill. With a little thought, I'll bet it would be great in the bullet.
Rita
 
Hey Rita and Gang:

I've been tracking this thread with much interest since wings are THE Friday night staple at my home! I have fried, grilled, baked and smoked wings all with some level of family satisfaction; however, I've never brined wings and no one yet has mentioned injecting wings! Since I'm willing to experiment and since brining sounds like a good idea, I've thought of taking it one step further and injecting the wings with brine. Am I totally off-base or off my rocker (that's not John Rocker for you Rita!)? Has anyone ever tried this and if so what were your results?

?.John
 
John, my instincts tell me that if I was going to inject the brine I would cut way back on the salt, but I have never tried to inject brine. Besides, wouldn't it be time consuming shooting every little wing?!

Hope you have a good Labor Day.

Doug W
 
John WHO????
rolleyes.gif


Injecting sounds like an interesting idea if there aren't too many of them. Didn't I see some formulas for injection liquids on the site? For a first attempt, I'd be inclined to cut back on the salt a bit, heat the liquid (beer might be good, or water) with a salt-free rub to flavor it, let it cool, and inject it. If the injector needle is fine, it might have to be filtered. I personally would add some of Frank's hot sauce (name might be different on the west coast).

BTW, I found a really good article about brining by Derrick Riches at:

http://bbq.about.com/library/weekly/aa112000a.htm?terms=brining

Also, I think Bruce Aidells has some formulas for injection liquids in his book "The Complete Meat Cookbook."

Let us know what happens if you do it.
Rita
 
Doug and all:
Oh yea, time consuming is probably an understatement but with a healthy supply of a fine Texas beverage (the Shiner folk's products have finally invaded our neck of the woods), I might find it an interesting and maybe even an extremely comical project! Who knows, I just might make into the Rippley's Believe It or Not Museum as the first (and probably only) person in history to smoke a WSM full of tiny little bloated chicken wings! If I do it, I'll let y'all know the probably humorous but hopefully successful outcome. Here's wishing a nice and successful smoking Labor Day to all.
?.John
 
I've brined wings several times and find it works well. Regarding injecting I wouldn't inject a brine but might inject a mixture of butter, hot suace, onion and garlic juice, and then dust with a rub. I don't think you would need to inject much into the wings.

Realistically just letting them sit in a marinade should be enough. I think plenty of seasoning wil get into the meat. I doubt if the skin is tight enough to the bones to keep a marinade from seeping in.

------------------
Bruce Cook
bdcbbq1@home.com
 
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