Tapatio beer Wings


 
Shaun R

Shaun R

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I wanted an easy wing recipe for Super Bowl Sunday and here is what I came up with.

One small bottle of Tapatio hot sauce. I already had this in the fridge. If you can't get it in your area substitute it with another similar taco sauce.

Next I added a half bottle of Budweiser to that. I assume any beer would work, but I like Bud and it worked well.

Then add one large tablespoon of brown sugar. I used dark because I like the color it adds.

Mix it up in a bowl and pour in a ziplock bag with the wings. Let it marinate for about four hours.

I grilled them indirect adding a little mesquite smoke wood in the beggining around 250 then cranked it up to about 350 toward the end. They took about an hour and a half or less to finish. I served them with a side of Ranch dressing and they were a hit. They had a nice sweet hot smokey bite to them.

My directions are a little vague because I have only done this once. I am going to do this again very soon because I can't wait to have have them again.



 
Those look great. Couldn't find Tapatio (heck, I could barely find Old El Paso up here in the great white north) so had to use Old El Paso with a bit of habanero sauce mixed in. Even if I only get the colour it'll be worth it.

Marinating in the fridge now, although I'll probably only have time to let them soak for an hour or so.

EDIT - I snagged a wing off the kettle and tried it -- found it was kind of "sweet and bland", like I'd used the wrong sauce. I looked up Tapatio and realized it was more of a hot sauce than a taco sauce. D'oh !!

I gave each wing a quick glaze of sriracha and let them cook for a bit longer. Hopefully that will get some balance back...
 
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OK, conclusion is that I mucked up the implementation of a perfectly good recipe. Obviously need to cook more wings ;)

Will keep looking for Tapatio; failing that I think I remember seeing Cholula at one of the markets between home and work. Any other suggestions for substitutes ? Tabasco doesn't seem like a very good match...
 
John, apparently Tapatio HS is made/carried by Kraft. Call customer service to see if it's sold up here.

For questions, contact your Kraft Foodservice sales representative or call 1-800-537-9338.
Click to expand...

I think using the sriracha is problematic because of the garlic in it. Try something like Frank's original instead. Not tabasco either because of the vinegar.

Anyways, check ingredients b4 purchasing to ensure it has (or does not have) the flavours you want/like.
 
Thanks Len. I went to pick up a bottle of Cholula at the place I saw it before... it was gone from the shelves, but they had Tapatio. Go figure.

(thinks for a minute)

Hot sauce with actual peppers in it seemed very un-Kraft-like, so I went back and checked the ingredients (yep, real peppers) and gave it a taste. Very nice, same basic taste as Franks but a lot more concentrated and without the vinegar. I even found it on the Kraft Foodservices site, and discovered it comes in 1 gallon plastic jugs (for wing night).

The label on the bottle I bought said that it was imported by TIFCO :

http://www.tifcolatinamericanfoods.com/?tcp_product=hot-sauce-1022

Anyways, I think I understand what went wrong with the last batch of wings now (that used bland taco sauce instead of hot sauce). I'm amazed they were even edible ;)
 
OK, trying again but with "real" Tapatio. Didn't have any wings but had lots of chicken thighs, so left a pack of them to soak for the afternoon. Cooking now on WSM upper grill with water pan removed and all vents open, starting around 375 and gradually dropping to 325 or so. So far seems promising :

DSCN3211.jpg


The foil pouches are sliced potatoes with a few sliced onions, a bit of olive oil, rub and rosemary.
 
Looks good John. I've never cooked without the water pan in the WSM, so I'm interested how this turns out.

I always like adding rosemary to the foiled potatoes like that, good stuff.
 
Oh my... the chicken itself turned out pretty good (enough to make this my go-to chicken recipe for now) but the chicken skin was fantastic.

The thighs all got stripped clean (ie skin gone, thighs and meat still on the grill) in less than a minute after the first taste. I cooked them skin-down longer than I intended but it worked out really well. I wasn't paying attention to cook time but it was probably 1-1/4 hours, guessing 40/60 skin up vs skin down. During initial prep (before going in the sauce/beer/sugar mix) I pulled the skin back to let some marinade get to the meat underneath, then folded it back down.

No pictures, chicken didn't last long enough, but the skin was a nice dark brown without being overcooked, and very tasty/crispy. WSM dome thermometer temps were reading around 325 at the end of the cook. Will probably try this again on Monday and try to get pictures this time.

The coals were still going strong and I figured I should smoke something else, but all I had was some just-sliced back bacon (aka pork loin rolled in cornmeal), so that's on the upper grill now. Apparently it's called Canadian Bacon in the US but no idea why. Result was a pile of lightly grilled back bacon with a nice smoky taste, waiting to become breakfast.
 
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Yeah, I'm now totally confused where the boundaries are between hot sauce, chili sauce, taco sauce etc... originally I thought "chili sauce" implied tomatoes or similar, but I'm increasingly seeing hot sauce and chili sauce used interchangeably.

The ingredients on my bottle of Tapatio are : water, red peppers, salt, spices, garlic, acetic acid, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate as a preservative... I would have initially called that a hot sauce but it seems to meet most of the definitions I'm finding for chili sauce as well.

Any idea where the lines are ?
 
Tapatio is good stuff. It has some spice, but is not too hot. It's about like Crystal in its heat level, but the flavor is quite different.

I love to cook wings on the kettle. Look forward to trying this.
 
Your list of ingredients seems to match up with sriracha (peppers and garlic) which I would class as a hot sauce. I love garlic but somehow this blend isn't for me. I prefer more of a hot component than a flavoured component (I've already got my flavours with the rub spices I use).

It seems that just because you like a particular food doesn't mean it goes well with other favourite foods. For example, I love blue cheese and I love steak but I had blue cheese "sauce" on a steak once. Never again.

Don't know why though. Maybe like pickles and ice cream? Separately, great. Together? Well, I'm never going to be pregnant ;) .


BTW, your wings look grrrrrrreat !
 
those wings and thighs look amazing! Hopefully u can answear this, every time I have cooked wings, drumetts, thighs in the wsm the meat comes out great but the skin is like one big piece of rubber! what the heck am I doing wrong! even beer can chicken rubber skin! but if I cook the same things in the kettle they come out perfect! any help thanks!
 
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