So I bought some chicken wings from Costco. It was about 8 lbs. worth of drumettes and wingettes. I was stressing about attempting to cook them on the Searwood because my last attempt my wife said the wings were overcooked and dry. (My whole family disagreed, but without a happy wife then no happy life <sigh>). I was scrolling through youtube and I came across Meat Church's 0-400 degrees experiment on his Traeger pellet grill for cooking wings. I attempted to duplicate his success and attempt to make crispier wings on a pellet grill.
I dry brined the wings overnight with salt on a cooling rack. The next day I mixed up some rub based on Henrik's KC Royale Rub. I separated the drumettes from the wingettes because I've learned that the size difference matters and the wingettes cook faster on my Searwood. I coated with the rub and placed them in the weber on the bottom shelf. At this point, I haven't even turned on the Searwood. I set the temperature to 400 and walked away. Meat Church said this process tends to produce smokier overall flavor and a crispier wing in the end.
I checked the wings at the 30 minute mark (this time was from turning it on, heating up, and then cooking until 30 minutes later. The wingettes were done near 200 degrees (the temperature Meat Church aims for when cooking wings for crispiness). I wish I would have checked them at the 15 minute mark because they got a little toasty on one side. They weren't burnt, just a little crispier on one side. The drumettes weren't quite done yet so I flipped them and let them cook for another 15 minutes until they neared 200 degrees.
I really wanted to try the KC Royale Rub without sauce so I left the wingettes and just placed sauce on the drumettes. Both turned out way better than my first attempt. The chicken was not dry at all. They were smokier and crispier than I've cooked them previously. I could have placed the drumettes back on the grill to sear the sauce on the drumettes a little, but everyone was hungry and they said they looked good enough.
The KC Royale Rub was delicious by itself. My wife said the wings bit her back when she ate them, but liked the rub. I guess I'm still trying to learn what my wife likes <sigh>. The rest of my kids liked both and said the wings were fantastic with or without sauce. I agreed as they were smokier and crispier than ever without frying them. My wife liked the sauce covered wings better and said it balanced out the rub a little better. She only has eyes for Sweet Baby Rays original bbq sauce.
I was a little lazy so we ate the wings with chips and salsa and some cut up apples (my wife's addition).
I tried to get a good picture of everything to make it look fancy, but I barely had time to take this picture as my family ripped through the wings pretty fast. Someday I'll have to take a class too on photography.
Overall, I liked the 0 to 400 degree method and will probably cook wings that way moving forward until I can get my Weber kettle operational.
I dry brined the wings overnight with salt on a cooling rack. The next day I mixed up some rub based on Henrik's KC Royale Rub. I separated the drumettes from the wingettes because I've learned that the size difference matters and the wingettes cook faster on my Searwood. I coated with the rub and placed them in the weber on the bottom shelf. At this point, I haven't even turned on the Searwood. I set the temperature to 400 and walked away. Meat Church said this process tends to produce smokier overall flavor and a crispier wing in the end.
I checked the wings at the 30 minute mark (this time was from turning it on, heating up, and then cooking until 30 minutes later. The wingettes were done near 200 degrees (the temperature Meat Church aims for when cooking wings for crispiness). I wish I would have checked them at the 15 minute mark because they got a little toasty on one side. They weren't burnt, just a little crispier on one side. The drumettes weren't quite done yet so I flipped them and let them cook for another 15 minutes until they neared 200 degrees.
I really wanted to try the KC Royale Rub without sauce so I left the wingettes and just placed sauce on the drumettes. Both turned out way better than my first attempt. The chicken was not dry at all. They were smokier and crispier than I've cooked them previously. I could have placed the drumettes back on the grill to sear the sauce on the drumettes a little, but everyone was hungry and they said they looked good enough.
The KC Royale Rub was delicious by itself. My wife said the wings bit her back when she ate them, but liked the rub. I guess I'm still trying to learn what my wife likes <sigh>. The rest of my kids liked both and said the wings were fantastic with or without sauce. I agreed as they were smokier and crispier than ever without frying them. My wife liked the sauce covered wings better and said it balanced out the rub a little better. She only has eyes for Sweet Baby Rays original bbq sauce.
I was a little lazy so we ate the wings with chips and salsa and some cut up apples (my wife's addition).
I tried to get a good picture of everything to make it look fancy, but I barely had time to take this picture as my family ripped through the wings pretty fast. Someday I'll have to take a class too on photography.
Overall, I liked the 0 to 400 degree method and will probably cook wings that way moving forward until I can get my Weber kettle operational.
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