T1B

I have made breaded and fried hot wings before. I believe the following recipe is a tiny bit healthier. Bump up the red pepper flakes in the brine for a little more internal heat.

Brined & Dry-Rubbed Chicken Wings

Ingredients
•24-30 wing sections
•3 Tbsp canola oil

For the brine:
•1/2 cup kosher salt
•3 tablespoons light brown sugar
•2 garlic cloves
•1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
•1 bay leaf
•1 tbsp red pepper flakes

For the dry rub:
•1/2 tsp dried oregano
•1/2 tsp dried rosemary
•1/2 tsp dried thyme
•1/2 tsp dried basil
•1/2 tsp fennel seed
•1 tsp dried parsley
•1 tsp Italian seasoning
•1/2 tsp cumin
•1/2 tsp paprika
•1/2 tsp onion powder
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1 tsp ancho chili powder
•1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
•1 tsp brown sugar
•1 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions


The brine

1. In a large pot, combine the salt, sugar, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf and red pepper flakes with 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 3 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

2. In a large bowl, pour the brine over the chicken wings. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.


In the meantime, make the dry rub:

3. Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind together the oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, fennel seed, parsley, and Italian seasoning.

4. Add the rest of the dry rub ingredients and mix together well.


Next, coat the chicken in the dry rub:

5. Put the wing sections and canola oil in a bowl. Mix around well.

6. Add the dry rub and toss the wings around to coat evenly. Let that rest for 15-20 minutes


Cook the chicken:

7. Cook on grill, indirect heat. Would probably do very well in a smoker.

That's not a dry rub.

It was when it went in there.

Goober McTuber wrote:Would probably do very well in a smoker.

Yup. The only drawback is they come out with rubbery skin, so they will need to be baked, grilled, or quick-fried after the smoker.

Personally, I only brine wings for 1-2 hours. After that, it's hard to get the salt out of the joints.

I did mine for a full 3 hours and they were great. But I don't eat the joints.

Local BBQ guy does great wings on his smoker and the skin's not rubbery at all. I'll ask him how he does that.

A lot of ingredients to keep track of, but it does sound good.

BTW, if you add oil when applying the rub it's technically a wet rub. Something you're probably intimately familiar with.

Mikey wrote:A lot of ingredients to keep track of, but it does sound good.

BTW, if you add oil when applying the rub it's technically a wet rub. Something you're probably intimately familiar with.

If you google dry-rub chicken wing recipes, you'll find that about half of them use a small amount of oil to get the rub to stick to the wings, and the wings to not stick to the grill. But we don't really have high culinary expectations for someone who uses canned bacon.

Carson wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:Would probably do very well in a smoker.

Yup. The only drawback is they come out with rubbery skin, so they will need to be baked, grilled, or quick-fried after the smoker.

Or you just smoke them at oven temperature. I never smoke poultry at less than 325.

Personally, I only brine wings for 1-2 hours.

Definitely. That's plenty for wings.