As September falls upon us here, in South central Alaska, the trees start turning yellow, the air is spicy, and the damn rains come. I had some redeeming to do after a disastrous cook last weekend on my new Akorn. I didn't have my diffuser situation together, and despite trying to Feng shui a solution, my spare ribs turned out horribly. So, I ordered a diffuser, plus a round rib rack. These arrived Friday, and I was rarin' to go! After work on Friday, I stopped to find something to NOT screw up. After going up and down the aisles several times, in an innocuous corner, was a pack of real meaty hog wings.Score! I brought themhjome, then I very lightly salted them Saturday for Sunday. Then things got interesting...
Sunday, I awoke to a steady rain. Steady but not too hard. I figured it to be cookable, but if it gets any worse, it will get dicey.Now to the wings.
For 5 lbs. of hog wings I made a variation (sort of) of Memphis dust. All my brown sugar was too hard to use(since rectified), so I used white sugar, honey, and the slightest dab of molasses. To this I added a tbsp. of black peppercorns, 1/2 tsp. of annatto seed, 3 tbsp. paprika, one tbsp. smoked paprika, one tbsp each of garlic and onion powder, 3 bay leaves, 2 tsp. thyme(i prefer thyme instead of rosemary, although sage, oregano, and marjoram have all worked well too), 2 tsp. ginger, and finally, 2 tsp. lemongrass powder. The peppercorns, annatto, bay leaf and thyme were buzzed up in a spice grinder.
Dutifully rubbed, it was time for fire. Now the heavens open up. I filled the kamado, started a fire, placed the diffuser(already saturated ), slammed the lid down quick, and went inside to wait and change my now soaked attire. I also put a coffee can with side perforations over the chimney to keep out the rain, which is " Akorn Standard."
The rain slackened, so when I hit my target temp of 250, it was time to fire. Then it really started coming down. Raingear time! Including the food. I ran out, fired the food, and got back inside. My dog looked at me from the porch with a puzzled Scooby Doo expression. I managed to get the food on and only partially melt the plastic bag, which had the food inside on a platter.
I checked the food every half hour. At one and a half hours, it was time to wrap, so I removed the rack and drip pan the rack sits on, and went into the house. There, I wrapped each hog wing in foil with a pat of butter, and a bit of sauce. When I returned to the kamado, the temp was above 400. S&@t! Okay, time to call an audible. I fired my oven to 250, and fired the wings on a cookie sheet. I figured it would take an hour to get the temp down where I needed, so okay fine. I went to the store for sauce(I ran out ), russet potatoes, and corn on the cob. These would stand hotter temps, and would be ready when it it was time to set the sauce on the hog wings.
As soon as I got back, I fired the bakers. Then, I pulled the hog wings from the oven and vented them. Since I originally pulled them out with a 160ish internal temp, I figured a finishing temp of 180-185 should do. I was lucky to nail that finishing temp at about 45 minutes of oven time. While the wings were venting, I turned them a couple times to spread that butter bbq sauce goodness around.
After 20 minutes, I fired the corn and flipped the bakers. I flipped the corn a bit for another 30 minutes, then pulled both the corn and bakers and placed them into a serving tray covered with a garbage bag, as the rain was increasing. I then sauced the wings, and used the upper vegetable shelf to better keep the wings from the excess heat. After 25 minutes, the sauce was set and I loaded the food into the front seat of the car to rest for 30 minutes till I brought it over to feed some family; the unfortunate recipients of last weekends debacle...lol
The results were excellent. Perfect smoke ring, tender but with a bit of chew, slightly sweet but very savory too. The lemongrass really brightened the flavor.
In short, use what you have, not what you wish to have.
Love from Kona, the dog, and I from Houston, Alaska
Sunday, I awoke to a steady rain. Steady but not too hard. I figured it to be cookable, but if it gets any worse, it will get dicey.Now to the wings.
For 5 lbs. of hog wings I made a variation (sort of) of Memphis dust. All my brown sugar was too hard to use(since rectified), so I used white sugar, honey, and the slightest dab of molasses. To this I added a tbsp. of black peppercorns, 1/2 tsp. of annatto seed, 3 tbsp. paprika, one tbsp. smoked paprika, one tbsp each of garlic and onion powder, 3 bay leaves, 2 tsp. thyme(i prefer thyme instead of rosemary, although sage, oregano, and marjoram have all worked well too), 2 tsp. ginger, and finally, 2 tsp. lemongrass powder. The peppercorns, annatto, bay leaf and thyme were buzzed up in a spice grinder.
Dutifully rubbed, it was time for fire. Now the heavens open up. I filled the kamado, started a fire, placed the diffuser(already saturated ), slammed the lid down quick, and went inside to wait and change my now soaked attire. I also put a coffee can with side perforations over the chimney to keep out the rain, which is " Akorn Standard."
The rain slackened, so when I hit my target temp of 250, it was time to fire. Then it really started coming down. Raingear time! Including the food. I ran out, fired the food, and got back inside. My dog looked at me from the porch with a puzzled Scooby Doo expression. I managed to get the food on and only partially melt the plastic bag, which had the food inside on a platter.
I checked the food every half hour. At one and a half hours, it was time to wrap, so I removed the rack and drip pan the rack sits on, and went into the house. There, I wrapped each hog wing in foil with a pat of butter, and a bit of sauce. When I returned to the kamado, the temp was above 400. S&@t! Okay, time to call an audible. I fired my oven to 250, and fired the wings on a cookie sheet. I figured it would take an hour to get the temp down where I needed, so okay fine. I went to the store for sauce(I ran out ), russet potatoes, and corn on the cob. These would stand hotter temps, and would be ready when it it was time to set the sauce on the hog wings.
As soon as I got back, I fired the bakers. Then, I pulled the hog wings from the oven and vented them. Since I originally pulled them out with a 160ish internal temp, I figured a finishing temp of 180-185 should do. I was lucky to nail that finishing temp at about 45 minutes of oven time. While the wings were venting, I turned them a couple times to spread that butter bbq sauce goodness around.
After 20 minutes, I fired the corn and flipped the bakers. I flipped the corn a bit for another 30 minutes, then pulled both the corn and bakers and placed them into a serving tray covered with a garbage bag, as the rain was increasing. I then sauced the wings, and used the upper vegetable shelf to better keep the wings from the excess heat. After 25 minutes, the sauce was set and I loaded the food into the front seat of the car to rest for 30 minutes till I brought it over to feed some family; the unfortunate recipients of last weekends debacle...lol
The results were excellent. Perfect smoke ring, tender but with a bit of chew, slightly sweet but very savory too. The lemongrass really brightened the flavor.
In short, use what you have, not what you wish to have.
Love from Kona, the dog, and I from Houston, Alaska
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