Last week, I showed you how I took my gifted Cayenne pepper plant and decided to make my own Crystal/Frank’s Cayenne Pepper Sauce. My usual go-to for a wing sauce is Franks, but I love that Crystal for cajun rice/beans – and an upcoming favorite dish of mine! (No spoiler).
I had a serious hankering for some chicken wings – and thanks to the current economic climate – things are out of control. I purposely don’t get political on here, but c’mon already. Cost at the local restaurant was about $1/wing. The store had whole wings for $1 so as per usual, we’re cooking at home.
The recipes are just re-posts of my chicken wings from a bit ago and the sauce from last week – so nothing new in that realm. But I’ll still walk you through what I did and why I did it – and more importantly, how it came out!
The Prep Table
Trim that bullshit tip. I like to mention that up front (I think I did on the previous Wing post too – but it’s a pet peeve). It doesn’t add any value, any meat, no presentation… It’s how I judge your product, in the end. Anyway. I removed these from the packaging, gave them a quick rinse and a paper towel pat down.
Let it sit for about 5 minutes, gave it another pat-dry, and sprinkled some baking powder on them. We want that bite-thru skin, and I nailed it on the last one, so we’re doing it again.
I picked these up on the way home from work, got home, let the dog out, and got to the prep. Trimmed off the tip, did the prep, and let them chill in the fridge until those hunger pangs were working overtime. After that, I went back to my old faithful wing seasoning – that Jayell Black Label XXX. We’re running dangerously low, and I’m not seeing it on their site – panic-mode is coming quick.
The Process
After we remove the naked wings from the fridge, let it relax on the counter top for about 5 minutes there, will help the rub stick a bit. We ain’t going for room temperature like we do for beef – but a little bit of warming doesn’t hurt. Put a little sprinkle on each side (in my case, more than just a little), and get ready to add some smoke.
A little closer on the wings so you can see the dustings:
A smoked bird with crisp never disappoints. One of my BBQ friends posted a sign that said “It’s smoked, I promise it’s cooked!” because you get that pink in the chicken that could worry some. I know when I’m cooking, I have my ThermaPen handy, and I’m always making sure it’s safe.
As I stated earlier, we did this on a weekday after work. Most of my posts are completed on a Saturday/Sunday so I can take it easy, but we were running pretty close to 8pm by the time we’re getting these done. The damn iPhone takes an awesome picture – shown above, so you can’t really tell. I knocked the flash off so you can see what we’re actually dealing with below (plus, I love that RecTeq glow at night):
What I did here was crank it to about 450 and left the birds on. I will normally take it off and tent them in foil as it gets to temp, but I just let it go. I had a grill grate on the side that I thought – why not try to really char it up. Truthfully, it was so dark – I couldn’t see, I didn’t have the right utensils out… so some got that treatment, others didn’t. You’ll see below, we still got that charred, bite-thru skin:
We got them black marks, we got the darkened skin – we just have to finish them off. You’ll recall from last week’s post – we didn’t get much cayenne sauce – but we got enough for this. Let’s put it to work.
The Result
I dumped “enough” of that cayenne pepper sauce into a metal bowl and threw some wings in there. I did put about a tablespoon of melted butter in there as well because that’s what you do. On a side note: The only place I don’t order “hot” wings at is Hooters. I enjoy that buttery medium so much, never needed to up the ante. Cayenne sauce, butter – did the toss and introduced them to the plate.
Sure, this was good enough – but could we do better? If you actually read last week’s post – you know I had some leftover “relish” – or the cayenne that didn’t blend. Why not add a little love to it?
Yessir! This was it. While I didn’t feed and grow the bird, MrsForensicBBQ and I grew the peppers, we made the sauce, parted the relish – and made this a delicious meal. Absolutely, this sauce was hotter than your Franks/Cayenne/Louisiana. And for me, it was exceptional. I’ll have to talk with MrsForensicBBQ, but I would love to convert the entire backyard to a cayenne pepper field after this one.
Definitely try this one out! I know not everyone will go through the Cayenne pepper growth, but this was awesome. I loved this for sure – and can’t wait to do it again next year!
The Recipes
Re-purposed recipes from old posts. Didn’t anything change, but that’s the beauty of this blog. I hope you all learn and grow as I do!
Original Cayenne Sauce Post | Original Wing Post
Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 15 Cayenne Peppers
- 1.5 Cups White Vinegar
- 3 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
Instructions
- Remove stems/ends from peppers. I didn't de-rib nor de-seed the peppers as I like spicy, so to each their own.
- Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil
- Reduce to simmer for 20 minutes
- Add result to a blender/food processor. My FP was way too large for this recipe, so I had to tilt/rotate the damn thing to get it to puree. When you think you're done, keep doing it.
- When it's nice and saucy, pour it through a mesh strainer into the saucepan. I reserved the thick for future projects. I brought the thin back to boil to incorporate flavors.
- Place result into a jar and refrigerate until use. Highly recommend doubling/tripling the recipe – as the result of this quantity leaves more to be desired.
Smoked and Sauced Chicken Wings
Equipment
- RecTeq RT-700 (Smoker of choice)
- Thermapen MK4 (Thermometer)
- Jerky Rack
- Sauce Pan
Ingredients
Chicken Wings
- 1 Pkg Whole Chicken Wings (12-14)
- 0.5 Cup Favorite Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
Buffalo Wing Sauce
- 5 oz Frank's Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce 1 Bottle
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter
- 1-2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2-3 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
Smoked Chicken Wings
- Spread the wings out on a cutting board or similar for the fridge and give it a paper towel pat dry. Give it a little baking powder and put it in the refrigerator for a couple hours – uncovered – about 2-3 hours or until you're hungry.
- Preheat your smoker to 275 and let it get stable before we get to smoking. I used leftover apple wood from a previous smoke, but you do you.
- After the dry rest, trim the whole wings of their tips. If you want to piece the drums/flats out now, have at it. Otherwise, give it your preferred amount of seasonings.
- Put the wings on the smoker at 275 for about 45 minutes – don't need to check it, just let that smoke roll.
- Crank your pellet grill (or transfer to a grill if you're pushing an electric/gas/stick smoker) to 400 degrees and get your Thermapen ready. When they've reached about 180 degrees internal, pull 'em out.
Buffalo Sauce
- Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and heat it up slowly to a simmer. Remove from heat and apply to wings. Easy Peasy.
- Whether you toss in a bowl, coat with a brush or whatever – apply your sauce and just give it a minute before you dig in. Or don't and enjoy.