Favorite hot sauce

 I came across a fantastic hot sauce over the weekend at, of all places, my local IHOP. Cholula is fantastic stuff, and while I’m sure it’s no secret to anyone who loves hot sauces, it was new to me and I’m now crazy for the stuff. The flavors of the peppers are fantastic and this Frank’s Hot Sauce guy is now fully converted. They have some interesting recipes on their Web site, and I think I may try out the one for chicken wings. 

Since I also have an interest in Web design and related things, let me say that while I’m not generally a huge fan of Flash-based sites, the Cholula site is pretty nice and has some interesting and fun features. I particularly like the loader graphics and, of course, the recipes. Check it out at cholula.com.

Chicken Wings, Chicken Wings

One of my favorite things to grill is the venerable chicken wing. I’m still mastering my overall technique, but to date I have achieved what I believe to be a very special chicken rub. My rub has just enough heat to be interesting, but also enough sweet that my kids will happily eat them. In fact, I have to make sure I set aside enough for myself because the kids will wolf them down before I get settled. As I’ve said before and will say again, a true BBQ man never shares his recipes, and I’m not going to either. Perhaps you can tell what’s in it from the photo. 

As for a chicken wing grilling technique…

 I’m still fine tuning my gas-grill technique, but here’s what I have so far:

1. Clean each wing by hand under warm water. I’m kind of uptight about this as I have a fear of salmonella and other nasty things. Rub down each wing and remove any lingering traces of feathers, yellow fatty deposits, blood, or other nastiness that may be on the wing. Takes a little time, but you’ll feel better afterwards.
2. Butcher your wings. Each wing will come out of the pack with what amounts to three pieces: the “drumstick,” the “two-boner” (not the official name, mind you), and the other part (also, not the official name). Cut them apart at the joint with a sharp knife. If this seems to hard, you’re not doing it right. It shouldn’t take a lot of pressure to get through the joint. Save the drumstick and two-boner and throw away the other part. There’s not enough of anything on there to bother with, so get rid of it.
3. To brine or not to brine. I usually don’t and frankly I haven’t noticed a discernible difference between when I have and when I have not. So either I’m not doing it right, or it’s not that a big deal. You can find instructions here if you’d like to give it a try. 
4. Next, whether you’ve simply cleaned your wings or if they’re coming out of a brine, pat down each part with a paper towel so that they’re damp, but not wet. 
5. Next you’ll want to get your rub on, on the chicken that is. Like I’ve said, I don’t share my delicious wing rub with anyone, but you can find plenty of recipes here. I put a few tablespoons of rub at at time in a medium-sized bowl. Coat each wing part consistently and make sure you cover the entire part. Don’t feel like you have to overdo it, a good rub goes a long way. 
6. After each part is coated with rub, cover them and let them sit in the refrigerator for a while. Overnight is fine or even just a couple of hours is good. I like to let them sit for a while because it lets the spices seep into the skin a bit. If you don’t have time to waste, you can go right to the grill, but I’d recommend giving them some time if you can. 
7. Pre-heat your clean grill to about 250-260 degrees. If your rub has sugar in it, don’t get too much hotter than that especially if you have your wings over a flame. Sugar will burn beyond 260 degrees and you don’t want that to happen too early in the cooking process. If you want to get your grill hotter, you can, but be sure to use an indirect heating source so the rub doesn’t burn. My grill’s just not big enough to heat indirectly the quantity of wings I cook. 
8. I’ll leave my wings on anywhere from 25-4o minutes at this temperature, depending on the size of the parts, turning them about every 5 minutes or so. I use a spray bottle with one part water and one part lemon juice to spray the wings each time I turn them. Once the skin starts to bubble a bit and you notice chicken grease coming out, you’re getting close to being ready. 
9. Now the final part of my technique is one I’m still trying to fine tune. My wife likes her chicken wings to have a crunchy skin on them, but this slow-cooking method doesn’t quite deliver that consistently to her satisfaction. So what I’m trying to finesse is a temperature increase for the last few minutes of cooking. Once the wings are basically cooked through, dial up the temperature to about 300 degrees. This should cause the sugar to start to burn and give the wing a nice crunch. I said “should” because I’m still finessing this myself. Give it a shot and see how it works for you.  Keep a close eye on it though, you don’t want them to burn (or I don’t anyway). 
10. Once they come off the grill, give them a few minutes to rest before you dig in. We usually eat ours dry, but you could certainly add any sauces or dips of your choosing. I’m looking for a nice vinegar-based sauce I can use for dipping, I might even share the recipe when I find it, or maybe I won’t.