Ok my brothers - I need chicken help!

[Full Throttle Q]

I have this comp coming up and I have to do ribs and wings. I feel very good about the ribs but my wings in a word, suck. Decent smoke flavor and dark brown rubber for skin, or your basic grilled wing with not much flavor except the sauce. I have been trying different things with the UDS but none too successful, I am pretty sure I just need more temp to crisp the skin but when I try that I don't get the smoke flavor I am after. Am I missing something here or over thinking this wing thing? Maybe should I just take a kettle with me and give them a nice grill and sauce? Any tips or ideas on what to do with these wings? my butcher just drops 12 in a bag when I walk in now, this is getting frustrating.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Mooner]

I'll tell you, at my last comp my brother in law bought a bag of wings from Costco just to cook and snack on Friday night. We took em out of the bag, (didn't even thaw em). Seasoned em up and threw the whole mess on the upper rack of my comp smoker next to the firebox (This is the hottest part of my cooker by far). Id say it was around 300 degrees in that spot. We turned em after about 20 minutes and 30 minutes after that we had some of the best wings I ever ate as far as texture goes. Meat was perfectly cooked skin was just a bit crispy and brown, smoke was in there, excellent wings. Now we did this purely by mistake and I actually would have figured they would have been done in about 30 minutes total but we were drunk and forgot about em so they cooked about 45 - 50 minutes. This is just a rough spot to start but you may look at something in this range if you want texture.

 

[MilitantSquatter]

Specifically, for a wing competition, I think crisp skin is much more critical than smoke flavor.

If you don't have the UDS working to your liking in time, go to the kettle and move the wings around as needs to get the advantage of some smoke, lots of heat and the ability to have an indirect side if things are cooking too quickly and you don't want skin to burn.. Coat with your sauce of choice as needed as you near completion. If the sauce is not giving enough flavor, give those wings a strong marinade or brine if you have time on the contest day before hand and use a rub that complements the sauce and flavor profile you are going for (ex. sweet, hot, spicy etc).

 

[QansasjayhawQ]

I really don't think this is fair when people do this around here, but I thought this thread was outstanding as far as wings goes.

Now, if you need some advice for thighs and leg quarters . . . let me know.

Otherwise I'll leave the discussion of wings-n-things to this thread;

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27973&referrerid=2793

 

[FatDad]

I have this comp coming up and I have to do ribs and wings. I feel very good about the ribs but my wings in a word, suck. Decent smoke flavor and dark brown rubber for skin, or your basic grilled wing with not much flavor except the sauce. I have been trying different things with the UDS but none too successful, I am pretty sure I just need more temp to crisp the skin but when I try that I don't get the smoke flavor I am after. Am I missing something here or over thinking this wing thing? Maybe should I just take a kettle with me and give them a nice grill and sauce? Any tips or ideas on what to do with these wings? my butcher just drops 12 in a bag when I walk in now, this is getting frustrating.
Thanks,
Mike

Go to "Recipes" "Appetizers"
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/cookbook/viewrecipe.php?id=1140045641&category=Appetizers

This recipe is AWESOME and will help.

 

[swamprb]

I was just at a Wing comp in Reno, and had at least a couple dozen different types of wings, and even though they were deep fried, none of them were very crispy and none were rubbery either. I would work on the sauce you choose to toss them in and let that get be the signature. JMO.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29122

Have you tried marinating them or using a wing rack on the UDS?
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27633&highlight=UDS
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26339&highlight=Wing+rack
Brian

 

[CarbonToe]

I don't know about compo's but I have had great results by smoking wings for an hour or so low and slow with loads of wood. Removing and letting then cool uncovered. Then rub with a little oil, dust with a hot red rub (containing very little sugar) mixed with a little corn flour. Cook up by grilling them over hot coals. This crisp's them up. You could always deep fry them but I try to avoid frying most thngs if I can!!!

 

[BBQ_Mayor]

My daughter just did some at a contest. Grill them first, then put a Raspberry Chilipotle glaze and butter on them. Goooood!. She got 3rd.

 

[Full Throttle Q]

Thanks guys!! I will make a couple more attemps I will fire up the drum to 300-325 and see what happens. I was losing faith but I feel better now!
Mike

 

[Bentley]

Screw the smoke flavor on wings...very sugary sauce, grill them keep it sweet and the judges will love you! Put a little char on those babies!

 

[grillfella]

That's it bentley, smoked wings are not all that. Some things need to be grilled