Here's a baseball-lite version of the OTG.

With the All-Star Game ahead of us, here's a little something to consider when you're putting together your feedbag for the big game. If you're looking for the perfect snack to wash down with a few beers, consider this non-deep fried version of "Wings." One of the more interesting aspects of wings, in addition to the literally thousands of possible recipes, is how they've become such a staple of modern day bar-fare and how important they've become to restaurant profitablility. Wings, my friends, are big business.

More Popular than Nachos?
Interestingly enough, according to Nancy Kruse, president of Atlanta-based The Kruse Co., which assesses trends and directions in food, menu and restaurant concepts, wings have become the no. 1 most-menued appetizer, having overtaken nachos in the past several years. But the "wings business" is a tough business as demand for ethanol and other factors push food costs up. Like Shelby and crew, this story would not be complete unless I tossed in some useless local angle to the story of higher wing costs. But, in OTG fashion, I say, forget going out when you can create a better product at home. Even with rising costs, grilled at home, $10 bucks worth of wings can feed a small army of guys (or gals).

Show Me Some Skin
For some people wings are an obsession and it's easy to see why. They are great finger food and simply a ton of fun to eat. They go great with beer and they can be spiced in an almost infinite amount of ways. So, what is it which makes these little morsels so darn tasty? Spices help, but the key is something else. This is the part where you have to tell your cardioilogist to avert his eyes. The key to chicken wings is the fat-laden skin. The wing simply has a tremendous skin to meat ratio and it all adds up to tasty goodness. It's helpful too that wings, like the thigh, tend to hold sauces well and can be grilled at relatively high heat without drying out the meat. That said, in the case of this grilled recipe, since you are not relying on the deep fryer to crisp up the skin, the critical component to making a superb wing relies on a hot grill and using that heat to crisp the skin.

The Process
In the case of this recipe, you can cook the wings whole, but if you want to create the little "drumettes" you'll need to cut wings apart at joints. If you've never done it, here's a nifty video showing how to create the "drumettes". When you're finished cutting, rinse well under cool water and pat bone dry with a paper towel. As mentioned in a previous post, you could brine the wings. My opinion is here, given the quick cooking times and the fat content, you can skip it without compromising this recipe as much as you would doing other chicken parts or a whole bird.

Rub It In, Rub It In
Instead of using a wet sauce for mopping or in combination with a rub, these wings will be rubbed and grilled dry. Making a rub is not complicated and if you like the taste, you can make extra and keep it in an air tight container to have on hand. I suppose a guy could cut corners and buy a commercial rub of some sort, but once again, in most cases you've got everything you need in your pantry. In the case of this rub, the heat is coming from cayenne which has been used for a long time as both a spice and for its healing power. If you want 'em hot, simply calibrate the amount of cayenne. I think a teaspoon and a half in this rub gives you a nice burn, without totally overpowering the rest of the spices. I like to apply the rub by hand, completly coverting each wing and drummette, forcing some of the rub under the skin on a cooking sheet. When finished, I dump all the parts into a large ziplock, collect all the excess rub and throw that into the bag and toss them around some more. Then throw into the fridge for at least two hours.

Time is on Your Side
While this recipe does require at least a couple of hours of marinating time, one of the things that is great about this recipe is, that the cook time is generally less than 10 minutes - in fact as the title of this entree states, it can be done roughly 8 minutes. If you are grilling for guests, it makes it very easy to look like a pro and time your appetizer course perfectly. Imagine greating your guests with a plate a smokey, spicywings hot off the grill and a cold beer. If you are solo, it's easy to time the grilling to coincide perfectly with the first pitch.

After the two hours of marninating time, I like to pull the wings out for about a half hour to get them to room temperature. In this half hour you can also start the grill and put a couple of big handfuls of wood chips into a bowl of water. For the grill in most cases, since I will also be grilling a main course, I use a full chimney of briquettes, even mounding out of the chimney so I have plenty of heat and plenty of coals. To minimize sticking, you'll want to make sure the grate is as clean as possible and well oiled. I usually let the heat burn off the crud, wire brush and then use an oiled, rolled rag to wipe down the cooking surface. When the coals are ready, I zone the heat by dumping the coals to one side of the grill, I mound them in a hill, high against the side of the kettle, cascading to a single layer at the bottom of the hill. I put a drip pan under the open half of the grill. When I have everything arranged, I put the chips onto the coals and wait for them to starty smoking. The result here, is that you are going to have a very hot grill overall, with intense heat on one side, tapering toward the center. The uber-hot side will be used the crisp the skin and cooler-zone will give you a spot to keep the wings from getting too charred.

Grill 'Em Up
Once you've got everything arranged and your chips start to smoke, start putting the wings on the grill, starting on the cooler side working forward to the halfway point (keep the wings off the coals though) and put the lid on the grill. I let them cook/smoke for about 3-4 minutes and when you remove the lid you can see from the overall heat, that they've started to cook. Then, using a pair of long tongs and a spatula, I start crisping the skin. I use the spatula to pry loose anything that's sticking as to not leave the meat on the grill and I work quickly through each individual wing, moving them over the hot part of the coals and rotating them to get both sides and them moving the finished wings to the cooler side of the grill. If you put the wings on the grill in organized rows, you can do several pieces simultaneously, moving and flipping the wings to make sure not to char them (too much) over the intense heat. When you've crisped them all, remove them from the grill onto a plate and serve with plenty of napkins and your beverage of choice.

The Meats
12 chicken wings

The Rub
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Optional
Hickory Chips for creating a little smoke

The Preparation
Stir dry ingredients, rub onto chicken, put chicken wings in a plastic bag. Shake well and leave in refrigerator at least 2 hours. Place on preheated grill and cook for approximately 8 minutes or until done.

Related WGOM Posts

• No Related Posts