Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

My first experiment with the Blasphemy Buffalo Chicken Wings didn't quite land right

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    My first experiment with the Blasphemy Buffalo Chicken Wings didn't quite land right

    First of all, Meathead's book is awesome. I've learned a ton from it and the recipes have an incredibly high "hit" rate for me, meaning deliciousness has been the outcome more times than not.

    However, my first attempt at the "Blasphemy Buffalo Chicken Wings on the Grill" did not turn out like I had hoped. The wings below were done on my 22" kettle with half a cup of apple wood chips added during each stage of the indirect cooking (1. 325 degrees, indirect, 10 minutes per side; 2. Add a bunch more coals and finish with a good sear over direct heat).

    The chicken turned out delicious but with two problems:

    1. I just can't get crispy chicken skin and smoke to play nicely together. I can get crispy chicken skin without smoke, but every experiment with smoke and poultry has ended up rubbery. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? Temperature too low? Possibly too much smoke? Or is that just the trade-off for smokey chicken meat?

    2. The buffalo sauce didn't adhere well to the wings. Maybe it was too thin? A bit of googling has shown me that various sites suggest different proportions of Frank's to butter and maybe the version in Meathead's book is skewed too far toward the butter? Or maybe I cooked it too hot or too far in advance of saucing the wings? No idea, but I'm willing to bet many of you have cracked this so any advice on this front will be gratefully appreciated.

    All in all, I'm thrilled to have found the site and this community. Thanks for reading and any ideas / suggestions!


    Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20170619_174450.jpg
Views:	158
Size:	124.9 KB
ID:	335817

    #2
    If I am going to grill something over direct heat, I don't sweat the smoke too much, especially with chicken.

    Comment


      #3
      I've only done chicken once on the kettle. I think once you dry brine, leaving the chicken uncovered in the fridge helps to dry the skin more which helps to get crispy.

      Comment


        #4
        1. I agree with Jerod, for chicken I don't bother with smoke.
        2. I had the same problem with the sauce not adhering much. Looking online it seems that Meathead's sauce recipe is in line with lots of other people. I'm guessing that because the wings are grilled and not breaded and fried, the sauce is just too thin to really stick. If I were to do it again, I'd either chill the sauce to thicken the butter or throw in a thickener like flour or cornstarch, but that's just a wild guess.

        The journey is just beginning. Once you start tasting how great the stuff you make is, but yet know that improvements can still be made, you will start cooking so much that you won't know what to do with all the leftovers!

        Comment


        • ComfortablyNumb
          ComfortablyNumb commented
          Editing a comment
          Leftovers? That depends on how big his family is, how many friends he has, and how close his neighbours are!!

        • jleinaweaver
          jleinaweaver commented
          Editing a comment
          Hi PBCDad, my second attempt went WAY better. I dropped the butter in the sauce to 1/3 cup and made the sauce in advance. After a couple hours it had thickened beautifully and my Buffalo wings were a huge hit with the family!

        #5
        If I smoke wings I usually give them a quick flash fry to crisp up the skin.

        Comment


          #6
          Thanks

          I'lI bet the flash frying works wonders, but I'd like to avoid that complication.

          So, bottom line, skip the smoke when it comes to chicken and my aim is crispy skin.

          And PBCDad is right, the experimenting is half the fun!

          Comment


            #7
            I use very little wood for chicken if I want the skin. I cook chicken at 300 and above. The hotter the better. I end up with crispy skin just about every time. If I want heavy smoke that's a different issue. I like 350 or so and often have no need for direct heat. Just rotate.

            are you using a moist chamber? Dry is good too.

            Comment


              #8
              Thanks HouseHomey, I'll definitely try the higher heat plus smoke approach in future.

              For now, my wife demands crispy wings and I must deliver! No smoke seems the safest bet for satisfying her demands in the near term.

              Comment


                #9
                The dry brining and letting the skin desecrate in the fridge does work. When I smoke chicken I do that, soon I'll be trying the peeling skin back and scrapping the fat from it to thin it out.

                Comment

                Announcement

                Collapse
                No announcement yet.
                Working...
                X
                false
                0
                Guest
                Guest
                500
                ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
                false
                false
                {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
                Yes
                ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
                /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here