Buffalo Wings....what is the best way to make them?

[CJF]

went to Harmons and picked up a bunch of fresh wings for tomorrow's dinner.

jeff lebowski, did you do anything special for the yoshida wings or did you just coat them with the yoshida straight outta bottle?

I'm doing some orange sriracha, yoshida teriyaki, and some apricot BBQ.

Do you guys rub overnight? (not THAT, sickos!)

I don't rub overnight. I start the rubbing process about 20 minutes before heating up my other better half.

[TripletDaddy]

getting excited for wings tonight. im seeing several smokers on other sites that coat their wings with oil AND rub prior to smoking. Peanut oil seems to be the preferred method. Anyone else try this or do you simply go with rub?

Plans:

Apple wood (kind of want to try hickory but since I can't tell the difference yet, I will go with what is already in the hopper)
350 for 45 mins
Remove and coat with different sauces
225 for 15 mins to finish

[Jeff Lebowski]

getting excited for wings tonight. im seeing several smokers on other sites that coat their wings with oil AND rub prior to smoking. Peanut oil seems to be the preferred method. Anyone else try this or do you simply go with rub?

Plans:

Apple wood (kind of want to try hickory but since I can't tell the difference yet, I will go with what is already in the hopper)
350 for 45 mins
Remove and coat with different sauces
225 for 15 mins to finish

I usually do 30 minutes on this stage, but 45 might work. Check it as you go with your new thermapen.

[TripletDaddy]

I usually do 30 minutes on this stage, but 45 might work. Check it as you go with your new thermapen.

In reading your earlier notes, you indicated that you would leave them on for 40-45 minutes the next time, instead of 30. maybe I misunderstood?

Also, I now have 2 thermapens!

http://cougaruteforum.com/showpost.p...0&postcount=54

[Jeff Lebowski]

In reading your earlier notes, you indicated that you would leave them on for 40-45 minutes the next time, instead of 30. maybe I misunderstood?

Also, I now have 2 thermapens!

http://cougaruteforum.com/showpost.p...0&postcount=54

I tried that but they were overcooked.

[TripletDaddy]

I liked the plum chipotle the best followed very closely by the Mandrin. The PE sauces wasn't bad at all, but would be better on a breast I think. The garlic peanut was decent, but didn't work with the rub.

I cooked the for about an hour at 350 then put the sauces on and dropped it down to 300. Not as crispy as I would have liked but very tender and flavorful.

On, my Maverick is officially dead. It didn't last 6 months. Kind of frustrating. Looking for a new thermometer now.

Interesting. CJF, you went 1 hr at 350, Jeff Lebowski did 30 minutes at the same temp. that is a big difference. any thoughts from you two?

[CJF]

Interesting. CJF, you went 1 hr at 350, Jeff Lebowski did 30 minutes at the same temp. that is a big difference. any thoughts from you two?

I almost always do 1 hour, but typically the wings are partially frozen still. I will pull them out of the freezer about 90 minutes to two hours before rubbing. That might be the difference. When completely thawed I usually go 40 minutes or so. I like a crispier skin before adding the sauce. Very seldom do I use completely thawed wings.

[TripletDaddy]

I almost always do 1 hour, but typically the wings are partially frozen still. I will pull them out of the freezer about 90 minutes to two hours before rubbing. That might be the difference. When completely thawed I usually go 40 minutes or so. I like a crispier skin before adding the sauce. Very seldom do I use completely thawed wings.

I see. makes sense. I am doing thawed wings so I think I will go 30 mins then stick a thermapen in there to confirm. thanks.

[CJF]

I see. makes sense. I am doing thawed wings so I think I will go 30 mins then stick a thermapen in there to confirm. thanks.

Good plan. I do partially frozen to allow the outside to get crispy while still keeping the meat juicy. I've just had better luck with frozen. I wish I could do thawed better. I prefer fresh to frozen meat. I'm watching your results closely.

[TripletDaddy]

Cold temps stink. Taking the traeg awhile to get up to 350.

[TripletDaddy]

Ok, so is it possible to fail and succeed at the same time?

First, I'm not down with smoking in adverse weather. We get a lot of wind up in our hood. The strong cold gusts coupled with the crummy chilly weather and the temp was really dragged down...took forever to get up past 300, never seemed to hit 350. I cranked it up to 375 and the temp eventually read 320. Meanwhile, I burned what seemed like half the hopper just to get there.

I finally tossed all the wings onto the mats and decided to get going. The temps were swinging all over the place so I decided to let my thermapen do the work this time. Does this happen to all of you, when it seems like your built in therm in the hopper is mostly useless? 30 minutes in and thermapen was telling me that I was looking at severe food poisoning if I were to remove the wings. I let them go for around an hour before pulling to coat.

Second, learned a lesson the hard way. I was reminded previously to beware of hot spots. I loaded the texas down with wings...probably 50 or more. Every single wing that was on the very front or very back edge of the grill was burned to a char on the bottom after 40 mins. Whoops. I forgot that in a convection oven, the hot air originates from below and circulates up along the front and back edge. Into the garbage. Luckily, wings are cheap and I made a bunch.

Now for the success. The wings that were not on the edges were perfect (so were the tops of the wings that were on the edges :rockon1. they looked great, smelled great, and a quick game of Just the Tip with my thermapen told me that the wings were hitting the high 150s and were ready to pull and coat. of course, in the minute or two it took me to pull the wings, the internal temp dropped about 70 degrees with all the wind outside.

Inside, I coated up the wings with apricot bbq, the infamous orange sriracha, and some yoshida with garlic and onion. btw, I was simmering all of the sauces for about 20 minutes, almost making a reduction. The yoshida thickened up nicely, as an fyi.

After coating, I sacrificed another 50 or so degrees of smoke temp and placed them back on for another 20 mins, maybe a little less. the wings were 165 and ready to go.

They tasted fantastic. These are not crunchy fried wings. the skin was slightly crispy. The chicken was moist and juicy, not rubbery (my main concern). And the sauces were great. MMM loved the orange, as did I. I really liked the apricot, as well. Puffy Check loved the yoshida. Really, everyone liked the yoshida. Seems like a safe way to go because everyone seems to like teriyaki. My fave was the orange. Props to kccougar for the recipe.

The Puffy Check asked for unmanly ranch for dipping but once they started eating the wings, they never really got around to the ranch. The sauces, the smoke, and the rub make the wings very flavorful.

All in all, the success was in the final product, which is the most important thing. I also learned some good lessons about placement on my smoker (smokers are like fingerprints....every one is different) as well as smoking in wind and cold...takes way longer, pellets disappear quickly, temps fluctuate wildly. I am glad I learned on cheap wings as opposed to expensive prime rib or some other cut of beef. I also think this would have taken much less time in warmer weather (goes without saying, of course).

I was able to snap a couple of pics with my cell phone. Not good quality. sorry. But the wings were yum.

Orange sriracha



Yoshida

[Jeff Lebowski]

Bravo.

I really need to try the orange siracha. Sounds great.

So with the Yoshida, did you just simmer it until it thickened up? That's a good idea. It is so thin that it is tough to get a good thick coating straight up. I will try that next time.

[CJF]

Looks great. Well done. I love wings from the smoker and I love playing with sauces.

You're right. Every smoker is different. I am surprised you had problems maintaining temps today. The wind must have really be screwing with your smoker. I've smoked in negative temps and had no problem maintaining temps. Then again, I have a Memphis.

[Coach McGuirk]

That looks really good, DDD. Is there a way to get the skin crunchier, I wonder? Sounds like you used the frog mats again? I tried to find some in the UC friday but no such luck. I am thinking of opening a BBQ specialty shop here as a side hobby. I am never able to find anything I am looking for.

I didn't have the temp problems you had today, although I wasn't shooting for as high. Does your house block any of the wind or is the Traeger fully exposed?

[TripletDaddy]

So with the Yoshida, did you just simmer it until it thickened up? That's a good idea. It is so thin that it is tough to get a good thick coating straight up. I will try that next time.

Yes. Heated on med flame until simmering then set to low for around 20 mins. Stir occasionally. I also added crushed garlic and finely chopped green onions to add flavor. It wasn't as thick as syrup but it definitely thickened up.

You're right. Every smoker is different. I am surprised you had problems maintaining temps today. The wind must have really be screwing with your smoker. I've smoked in negative temps and had no problem maintaining temps. Then again, I have a Memphis.

Ha. I'm happy with the traeger. I think the wind was the culprit, not the ambient temp. When you are smoking in negative temps, did you lose a lot of heat when you popped the top to mop?

That looks really good, DDD. Is there a way to get the skin crunchier, I wonder? Sounds like you used the frog mats again? I tried to find some in the UC friday but no such luck. I am thinking of opening a BBQ specialty shop here as a side hobby. I am never able to find anything I am looking for.

I didn't have the temp problems you had today, although I wasn't shooting for as high. Does your house block any of the wind or is the Traeger fully exposed?

I saw a show today and they had an interesting method....smoke, then flash fry for 10 or 15 seconds, then finish on the smoker again. Of course, that requires a deep fryer but I think you can buy those pretty cheaply at Wal mart. I don't think you can truly get crunchy wings without frying. I think some extra crunch would be possible in a smoker with a consistent higher temp (I struggled to maintain 320 in the wind). Also, I read a lot today of people coating their wings with peanut oil and then rub. Im going to try the next time because I assume the peanut oil crisps them up some at higher temps. They were still really good, though, don't get me wrong.

One thing about all these sweet glazes and crazy flavors....they make it seem more like normal chicken as opposed to wings. They are delicious, but My brain is programmed to dip a wing into something and also throw down some celery in the process, so I think next time I will make some plain wings as well (with rub) and then coat them with regular wing sauce like Franks....then have a supply of blue on standby for dipping those. I wouldn't dare ruin the orange sriracha with blue cheese, but I missed the traditional stuff while enjoying the new flavors.

My house does block wind but today was crazy. Would be better to put the traeger on the deck so maybe I will do that.

You can buy frogmats in SLC at Sniders meats. They sell 3 different sizes. If you are never up that way let me know and I will pick some up for you. If you do head up, call ahead to make sure they have the size you want.