Smoked chicken wings, and a new idea

[fire it up]

Yesterday I found a great deal on some chicken wings so of course I decided to smoke them.

Most of them I threw in a brine consisting of brown sugar, kosher salt, chili powder, chili paste, black pepper, garlic, bay leaf, hot hungarian paprika and crushed red pepper.


Bad pic I know

I wanted to see what would happen if I made a brine using some wood chips so I cleaned some hickory chips and boiled them for about an hour and strained through a coffee filter.



Added some more water and about a 3:1 kosher salt to white sugar, made sure it was cool enough and added a few wings to it.



Brother-in-law made a chipotle BBQ sauce that I brushed on most of the chili brined wings with, 4 of the chili ones I rubbed with garlic powder, red and black pepper, paprika and onion powder.



The hickory brined wings I left completely naked.



Smoked them over light hickory for 2 hours then threw them in a 450 oven for 5 minutes or so.




Plated


So they were all really good. The hickory brined ones had a very natural/clean flavor to them but it wasn't as deep a flavor as I was hoping for.
Definitely something I will have to experiment with some more.

Thanks for checking out my wing things.

 

[mco]

Next time use beer along with the water.

 

[irishteabear]

Looks good. Glad your experiment turned out well.

 

[desertlites]

love wings-they sure sound good-I usta play alot with wings-have found what I like and stick with it.

 

[bigsteve]

I have yet to smoke wings. But I'm going to a potluck in two weeks, maybe I'll bring some smoked wings.

Question.......
What temp did you smoke at? Wings are so small, it would seem like 2 hrs even at 225* would be too much (??)

 

[fire it up]

Not really sure whattemp I smoked at, around 225 or so I think. They weren't big wings but weren't exactly small either and I (of course) brined them first so even if they did go a bit too long they would still be moist and tender.
I didn't have a probe in them so I couldn't tell you what temp they were at when I pulled them but they weren't dry or tough by any means.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I wonder if...instead of boiling the wood, just let it soak for a day or 2 in a covered container in a cool place (fridge). I've seen some really dark liquid with a nice odor from a long soaked wood. I made the mistake of leaving some wood chips in a water soak that didn't get used once...a long time ago...before I learned that soaking smoke wood was a waste of time.

Maybe just soak, drain and add your doctorin' brine medications?

I'm still on the lines of low n' slow here...heh-heh!

Nice idea...good creative thinking there...I have never thought about this yet. I gotta try to work this into a smoke sometime!!!!!

Let us know if you try it again.

Good job!

Eric

 

[tn_bbq]

A restaurant that routinely gets recognized as "best" chicken brines/marinates their chicken in sweet tea. Tea leaves aren't same as hickory wood, but your experiment made me think about this other method.

 

[bigbaldbbq]

Interesting method. Gives us all something to think about. They look really good. I cook mine for about 2 to 2 1/2 hour at 300. I glaze them with BBQ sauce and honey with a pinch of cayenne for the last hour.

Crisp skin and moist, my wife loves them.

 

[mballi3011]

Interesting idea with wings. Definely something to put in the smoker and give it a try. Hope mine cume out as well. Thanks for the idea

 

[the dude abides]

Great looking wings and points for the experiment.

You didn't really say what version you liked the best.

 

[fire it up]

I actually liked the hickory the best because of the natural smooth hickory flavor.
Tried a few turkey legs after that that I soaked apple chips overnight then strained, added some apple juice, brown sugar salt and pepper. Was hoping that would give them a nice apple flavor throughout but they actually lacked pretty much any flavor.
Going to try some hickory wood chip brines on a few breasts and on wings again and see how that goes, then I can make a true decision on wheteher it was truly different or not.

 

[waysideranch]

Look great Fire It Up.

 

[mcmelik]

NICE JOB ON THE WINGS !!! smoked wings are my favorite, I have been making them for years. Mostly on my weber over indirect heat. and 2-3 hours is about the normal depending on how many I out on.I have had as many as 6 pounds of them piled up at once and with a little mixing around they turned out great. But now that I have CGSP I can really pile them up.

 

[flash]

I actually like the beer with the chicken wings.

 

[flash]

Not really I use around 225º also and can go 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Pecan wood is another good one for wings, but you have to use a lower temp to give them time to take on some smoke flavor.