Snack food on the UDS- with pron

I decided to rehearse some holiday snack foods, so I'd have it down to a science when there's a house full of hungry people. Three items went on the UDS yesterday- MOINKS, ATB's, and Stuffed Chicken Wings. I made the ATB's horizontal style, since I don't have any way to hold them. I cut the side off of the pepper, scoop out the stuff with a spoon, stuffed them with a cream cheese/cheddar cheese filling, and wrapped them in a half slice of bacon. The MOINKS were just generic cheap pre-made meatballs wrapped in bacon. The stuffed wings are a Thai delicacy. You debone the wings (MUCH harder than it sounds!) and stuff with a pork/rice mixture seasoned with red curry sauce. Normally, they only use the middle part of the wing, chopping the drummette off, but I like to do the whole thing (Except the tip). It took me 20 minutes to de-bone 6 wings, and only one was perfect, with no holes in the skin. The results? The MOINKS were pretty ho-hum, at least compared to the other items. The wings were great, but all out of proprtion to the amount of work required. The ABT's were outstanding! I made way too few, even just for the two of us. And they're easy! Now, the pron:




BTW- I smoked with a little pecan @ 250 or so, for 1-1/2 hours. Smoke was a little stronger than I'd like it- I guess snacks absorb a lot of smoke!

If you google 'Thai stuffed chicken wings', you'll get lots of information, plus some ideas for stuffing them. Of course, you can stuff 'em with whatever you want! Traditionally, they are deep fried, but I wanted to play with the UDS. They usually cut off the drummette, and just take the two bones out of the middle section. I find the drummette is easy to de-bone- it's getting around the corner and removing the two little bones that's tricky. I use a very small, very sharp knife, and work my way down the bone. The meat stays with the wing- you want the bones to come out clean. Roll the wing inside-out as you work your way down. Once you get to the knuckle, bend the joint to pop the bone free. I can't really tell you how to proceed from there, since I'm not very good at it. There are a lot of little connective tissues at the joint. When you can get at it, separate the two bones, and remove the little one. The bigger bone seems almost attached to the skin itself, and takes some delicate work. Once you are down to the bottom of the two little bones, bend the joint to get them free from the joint. Un-inside-out the wing and stuff. The wing tip stays as-is, and serves as a handle for eating. I've successfully stuffed them even with fairly big holes in them, but I like it when I get a perfect one. They will hold a lot of stuffing, and make a pretty big snack. Needless to say, the bigger the wings, the easier they will be to deal with. There are videos on how to make them, but the little farker in the video does it so fast it's hard to see what he's actually doing. I guess I'll just have to keep practicing.....