Chicken Wings, Steaks and Ribs, oh my!

Critic #1, came down with a case of the stomach flu on Thursday night. The thought of putting a flu bound 8 year old in a car for 4 hours was much more than I cared to handle, thus no trip home to the farm. Dis-Interested Critic #2 was pissed. She suggested leaving Critic #1 behind. Little sisters know best.

The upside, I did all the laundry and cleaning on Thursday night. I will enjoy an entire weekend at home with no household chores and since my kiddo is not feeling well, it will be a weekend at home. What to do? Smoke meat. On the agenda: a three pound bag of chicken wings I have in the freezer, two K.C. strips that are begging for smoke, and the usual, two slabs of baby backs.

The chicken wings:

Three pounds of wings, sold in a bag at the grocery store. They had been in the freezer for about a month. I pulled them out and let them thaw. This morning, I washed them and let them dry off, before applying a liberal dose of the magic dust. I fired up the BGE and added a layer of the pecan wood chips when things got nice and heated. The smoke was spectacular. The wings went on at 200 degrees for a couple of hours. They were very nice when I pulled them off. I ate one and my taste buds danced for some time. I decided to go ahead and deep-fry half the wings, to see what that treatment gave me. I was very happy with the layer of flavor provided by El’ Magic Dust-o, but thought I would attempt to “sauce” at least a few of the deep fried wings.

After the first batch was fried and sauced, it was overly apparent that this was going to be the way to go, so I continued deep frying four at a time until I was through all three pounds. If I were cooking for a crowd, three pounds would not do it. I committed the Mueller’s wing sauce to memory during my days as a bartender and occasional cook. I’d hate to share it here, but it was pretty basic, a mustard base with some semi-solid dairy fat and hot sauce with a few other “secret” ingredients to round things out and keep people guessing. I’ve never been a fan of this style sauce so I opt for a honey bbq wing. One half cup of KC Masterpiece did the trick. These were great wings. I worried that the bbq sauce would cover my Magic Dust, but was happy to find a nice wave of flavor at the finish that lingered on the palate until it was washed away by a swill from my pint. Ha…I should have learned to evaluate fermented grape juice. Back to point, these were good wings. I’d like to take about 30 pounds to my dad’s smoke house and smoke the whole lot, then freeze and deep fry as necessary. That would be the only efficient way to serve them beyond myself, Critic #1 and Dis-Interested Critic #2.

The KC Strips:

I trimmed two KC Strips of their fat and gave them a nice coating with the Dust. The fat made Maggie, Critic #0, very happy. Fired the Egg, added pecan chips, and brought temperature to 200 degrees. I had a hard time keeping the temp down. After an hour and a half, the steaks registered 140 degrees. I pulled them off and cut into one. There was no pink in the middle, which made me sad. I wonder if there is a way to slow cook and still keep the pink. There was a pronounced ¼ inch smoke ring and the rub added a nice flavor. It was over done for my liking, but not bad. The kids and I split one steak and I’ll save the other to slice for sandwiches. I think it will make a nice lunch on a toasted bun with either a little blue cheese sauce or some horseradish.

I’ll do the ribs tomorrow it is time for the Critics and I to find something to do.