Chicken Wings for Game Day!

Sorry, sports bar fans, but I can think of few meals more overrated than all-you-can-eat wings. I know some of you live for 15-cent Wing Wednesdays, but the whole face-smearing, grease-spattering, bone-piling experience isn’t worth the intestinal repercussions that usually soon follow.

Don’t get me wrong, I love chicken wings. They’re delicious—when done right. True chicken wings should taste like chicken. As no-sh*t as that sounds, most sports bars mask the meat’s flavor by first dunking the wings into a deep fryer and then pummeling them with a mixture of butter and sauce. All you end up tasting is fat and spice. Great wings never touch hot oil and the flavoring comes from a marinade that compliments the chicken instead of overpowering it.

Check out Elizabeth Karmel’s recipe. Karmel’s the executive chef of Hill Country Barbecue Market andHill Country Chicken, both in NYC. Her easy-as-all-hell recipe pre-soaks wings in Louisiana hot sauce and then cooks them on the grill, where the circulating high heat turns the skin crispy and the flame adds that something extra your oven (or a deep fryer) never can.

Hands-Down Best Chicken Wings, by Elizabeth Karmel

What you’ll need:
4 lbs. chicken wings and/or drummettes
12 oz. hot sauce, such as Louisiana brand or Trappey’s brand
Fine-grain sea salt

How to make it:
1. Pour the hot sauce into one large resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken, seal the bag, and turn the bag several times so the sauce coats the chicken. Put the bag in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours or, for best results, overnight, turning the chicken occasionally to make sure all surface areas are covered with hot sauce.
2. Set up your grill for indirect grilling. When the grill is hot, place the wings in the center of a cooking grate over indirect heat. Close the lid of the grill and allow the wings to cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until they begin to brown. Flip each wing and allow to cook for another 20 minutes, until the wings are crispy and cooked through.
3. Transfer the wings to a serving platter and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Serve with celery, blue cheese, and a cold beer. 

Posted via email from Grillin and Smokin