Chikin Wingin Sunday


 
Jose Suro

Jose Suro

TVWBB All-Star
Hi all,

Some say that grilling chicken wings is hard and it most definitely can be. The wings are small, they have pretty thick skins, and a lot of collagen. All these things if not addressed individually can result in chewy, dry, tough, or rubbery skin wings.

For this cook I brought in some techniques from a number of different recipes. Cook country was one of them. In that show they addressed a number of the problems which were solved by first dunking the wings in a brine for a half an hour. This solved the dry wings issue. The reason they get dry is because to keep them from ending up chewy the collagen has to render. This takes a temperature of 170 to 180 internal. The brine keeps them from drying out at those temperatures.

The second problem is that to get the wings to 170 degrees calls for indirect heat. That can result in rubbery skins. The solution to that is 300 degree heat and more importantly, corn starch. Mixing corn starch in with the rub makes the skin crispier. It works. I mixed 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of rub. I used McCormick's Chipotle for the rub.

So, after the brine and rub the wings went in the Performer on indirect heat at 300 degrees with good sized apple wood chunks. Saved a couple for side two.
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The recipe called for 25 minutes and then a flip. This is side one after 25 minutes.
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Another 25 minutes and this is side two. At this time measured the internal temperature. It was 170 degrees. Perfect. And a nice crisp.
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At this time the recipe calls for the sauce. I used Sweet Baby Rays warmed up in the microwave with Louisiana hot sauce and red pepper flakes mixed in. A neat trick in this recipe called for putting the wings in an aluminum pan and saucing them there tossing them with a spoon. A lot easier than doing each wing individually. Then back on the grill at 280 degrees for another 25 minutes. I also used aluminum foil under the wings to catch the drippings and keep the grill clean :).
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And these are the wings after taking them off the grill.
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Finally, and very hungry by then, my plate. Extra sauce on the side, garlic potatoes and baked beans.
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Thanks for looking.

Best,

Jose
 
Jose, first of all your wings look super tasty and crispy indeed! You were so detailed and Inthank you for that. But I have a question . You say you cooked 25'+25' and you reached 170 IT which was what you were looking for. So, why you sauced them and went on cooking soo long for another 25'?? It's 50% more than needed! I don't understand that. If I were you I put the sauce and set it for 5' after the 25+25, or better, i sauced them during the second 25'. Please let me understand.
Thanks.
 
EnricoB said:
Jose, first of all your wings look super tasty and crispy indeed! You were so detailed and Inthank you for that. But I have a question . You say you cooked 25'+25' and you reached 170 IT which was what you were looking for. So, why you sauced them and went on cooking soo long for another 25'?? It's 50% more than needed! I don't understand that. If I were you I put the sauce and set it for 5' after the 25+25, or better, i sauced them during the second 25'. Please let me understand.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Enrico, and an excellent question. The truth is that I was a bit concerned about that myself and I really do not know how that works, but it does. It might have to do with the fact that while turning the wings over, panning and saucing the grill is open and the temperature drops a lot, so that those 25 minute runs are not all at 280-300 degrees, just the last 17-minutes or so on each. With all the wings on top of each other in the pan for the last 25 minutes there was no internal drying whatsoever, and they remained shinny and glazed perfectly. Nevertheless, I did hit 170 degrees by the end of the second 25-minutes.

This is a cooking method that is all over the web as "Super Smokers Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings". I did not follow the exact recipe, just the cooking method. On the Meatwave website the recipe and method is attributed to Mike Mills, from his book Peace, Love and BBQ. On another site the recipe is attributed to John Mclemore so I don't know who is right about that.

Also, one of the variations I read does mention a smoker temperature of 225 degrees. I thought that would be too low to both render the collagen and crisp the skin in just under an hour based on the Cook Country show and that's why I bumped mine to 300. The 300 degree temp is not really constant because cooking times between openings were short and the grill took about 8 minutes to get there after closing the lid each time.

Best,

Jose
 
Those look great! Been looking for a good wing recipe and I think I've found it! Thanks for sharing it.
 
Jose Suro said:
The solution to that is 300 degree heat and more importantly, corn starch. Mixing corn starch in with the rub makes the skin crispier. It works. I mixed 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of rub. I used McCormick's Chipotle for the rub
Click to expand...
Your wings look fantastic, I will try the cornstarch. You mentioned you sauced them with Sweet Baby Rays, I previously used SBR, but tried Stubbs Sweet Heat. I firmly believe SSH is much better than SBR, it's a little more expensive, but then SBR is really cheap.
 
ChuckO said:
Your wings look fantastic, I will try the cornstarch. You mentioned you sauced them with Sweet Baby Rays, I previously used SBR, but tried Stubbs Sweet Heat. I firmly believe SSH is much better than SBR, it's a little more expensive, but then SBR is really cheap.
Click to expand...

Great minds think alike :). SSH is now in my pantry. I used it recently for chicken thighs and it is great. I do like a hotter, redder more vinegary sauce and SSH fits the bill.
 
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These look great!!! Hmmm.....I wonder if this would work on the wsm.... I may have to try this for football season.
 
Excellent job and great looking wings. Thanks for posting and I'll definitely be trying this technique, along with the corn starch. I've had Mike Mill's book for years, so shame on me for not trying that recipe yet. The thinned sauce in the pan technique seems to answer all the issues I've had with saucing wings.
 
Winner, winner! Chicken wing dinner!

Takes a while, but it looks like it is well worth it.
 
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