With time growing short it is time to submit my entry. I decided on an indirect grill cook after marinating the wings overnight in the fridge, half with just EVO with salt and pepper, and the other half in a homemade apricot/Siriacha sauce. For sides I decided to make a black bean/grilled corn/avocado salad and finish off with a dish I'll call a
"Flowering Onion" so as to not step on any trademarks.
First off is a picture of the majority of the ingredients necessary for the cook. The chicken is contained within a bag at the lower right of the picture. Looking back I did leave out a few items, such as the bottle of Jack Daniels that was used in the sauce, perhaps it was being put to another use in different location.
First task was to grill the corn early to make make the avocado salad. As any good BBQ'er knows, grilling corn takes it to a greater taste level. The salad is 3-4 ears of grilled corn, one can of black beans drained and washed, two avocado's, a can of pimento's, and about a quarter cup of lime juice. This is seasoned with salt, pepper, and a few dashes of hot sauce. If desired red onions, celery, cherry tomato's, and bell peppers could be added to the dish, experiment if desired. I also find that if made at least 5-6 hours before the flavors meld together better. I usually make it the day before. Here's a simple picture of the corn being grilled as I like to show each part of the cook done on the grill. For this cook the corn and
Onion were done on the Genesis while the wings were cooked on the OTP. I took this pic the day before the wing cook late in the afternoon with the sun just over the hedge on the west side of the lawn.
The sauce, which also served as the marinade for the wings is composed of a cup of apricot jam, two tablespoons of Siriacha Sauce, onion powder, olive oil, brown sugar, soy sauce, Jack Daniels, garlic powder, sweet paprika, dijon, kosher salt, pepper, and Worcestershire Sauce. I cooked about 4 pounds of wings, with the end section removed, half marinaded in this sauce and the other half only in EVO with salt and pepper. I did this to provide test a taste difference between the two. Quite honestly, I found only a slight difference in taste between the two. On the grill, the wings in the rear are the one's marinaded in the siriacha sauce as they did gain color from the process. They were cooked in a lower range that ran between 225-250 over a mix of hickory and cherry wood for smoke. This is the wings just going on the grill.
After cooking each side about 25 minutes indirect at a temp in the 225 to 250 range the wings were moved over to finish over the coals. The wings were cooked to about an internal 135-140 degrees before moving over for the "sear". At this time they were sauced with the reserved marinade.
After a few minutes along the process to crisp the skin was speeding along. Flipped and sauced again.
Since I was also using the Genesis to cook the Onion I figured, what the heck, here's the two grill shot, looking west. The pan to fry the onion is just visible on the right side of the Genesis. Using only the burner gives the cook the use of the grill grate to set whatever is needed to cook on the burner.
After the
Onion was cut, and flowered it is dipped into a milk and egg mixture and then coated with a seasoned flour mixture, dipped and floured a second time. It is a precise process due to spreading the onion wings open ensuring a good coating on all parts. It is then placed in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before frying. A sauce is made from a mix of mayo, horseradish and other goodies. It was then taken out and fried on the Genesis side burner at 375 degree's until nice and crispy. There are two onions in the pan, though difficult to actually see as they must be submerged to properly cook. I think these are as good or better than the one's found at "that" famous steak restaurant, and certainly much cheaper.
Done and ready to plate.
Plated up with the Avocado Salad,
Flowered Onion with dipping sauce, and Apricot/Siriacha Wings.
Another with my wife's choice of beverage. Mine was a bit stronger as I still had that bottle of Jack out.
Thanks for viewing and best of luck to all the contestants with some great posts so far.......................David