Chicken Lollipops

This chicken wing “market price” garbage has gotta stop. You know by now I love my chicken wings – making seasonings, trying new ones.. making new sauces. Hopefully we’ll get back to a time when they were reasonably priced – but sorry y’all, I’m feeling the crunch like you.

Enter – The chicken drumstick. My response to combatting this nonsense. Ain’t gonna give up my love for the edible bird, I’ll just adapt and overcome. I’ve seen a lot of you do some beautiful drumsticks. What was always a good look – the Chicken Lollipop. So when I went to Costco and saw these – I knew it was time. Being that it’s Costco, I’ll have enough for a new look next time I cook ’em up.

Anyway, let’s get to it. Recipe below for those on the fly, but read on and see what I did – and why I did it. Glad to be jumping back into the BBQ world after that Cauliflower nonsense ?

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

Finally getting back into some traditional smokes. Not going to lie, we’re going to waiver a bit coming up.. but until then – enjoy this ride.

The first thing I did was mix up a couple seasonings. I think I mentioned awhile back I needed a good bird rub. I had two to test out for this one – and both were outstanding. I preferred the one with dill, but I digress. The lollipop is all about the preparation, so let’s to preparing.

Okay, I got started talking seasonings – can’t help myself. Here’s a look at the laboratory. I find this part fascinating. I find a general recipe and keep adding/subtracting from there (usually adding more cayenne than necessary). That’s why the tall jar has so much in there – Had to find the right mix. Keep going until you get it right – and you’ll probably keep changing it as you grow.

Here’s where we get to really prepping these things. These were fresh out the package, pre-rinse. Wasn’t overly excited about the presentation, so I’m excited to spend some time on getting them looking nice. Take a sharp knife and cut about a half-inch below the knuckle. Take a paper towel to get some grip and expose the bone.

Here’s an important part – Along side the bone is another smaller, sharper bone. She’s about the size of a toothpick and can be mighty sharp, so if you can get in there and break it off – get it done. Otherwise, as we push down as I’ll describe – do so carefully.

Get a grip on that bone with your weak hand, and push the meat and skin down with your strong hand pretty forcefully. Ya ain’t gonna break it, but you want to get that meat to the bottom and be able to wrap the skin around it. Not gonna lie – this whole process took way longer than I thought – but it’s a more than a flavorful cook – it’s a presentation cook.

Because it’s a presentation cook – give the exposed bone a foil wrap to keep ’em from turning black. Give it a solid dusting and place ’em in a half-pan and ready that RecTeq at LO (180 degrees). We’re gonna hit it with some good smoke early, then come back with a higher temp to crisp up that skin.

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The Process

Like I said earlier – spoiler alert – the herbier one was my favorite. I know, spicier is always my go-to – but flavor is flavor. Herbier won out. Coated these up heavily and we’re ready to go. We’re dropping a full stick of butter in this half-pan too to really knock this flavor into overdrive. My doctor does not know about this site.

Hit these with a good half hour of “LO/XTREME SMOKE” per RecTeq and then dial it up to 350 degrees (I know, stick burners – y’all hating on me for this. I got the ease, you got the better smoke.. it’s a trade off). While we’re waiting, let’s whip up some sides.

I did most of this prep while MrsForensicBBQ was getting some sleep. I wake up way too early, especially when I know I got a good cook coming. So when she woke up, I told her I was making some Jiffy corn muffins and I even bought the vegetarian kind. She didn’t want ’em. Can’t blame her, ain’t nothing special about a Jiffy muffin (sorry Jiffy).

Knowing them Jiffy’s were going to be boring (again, sorry Jiffy) – I was gonna rip off Texas Roadhouse and make a honey cinnamon butter. In hindsight, I would’ve loved to have actually used our mixer to stir up the butter – as my favorite spatula died as a result. But I did my best in doing the mix – but that flavor made them Jiffy muffins look like an all-star side.

Honey cinnamon butter made, corn muffins made – let’s get them legs off the smoker and dial this up. We’re gonna heat up some BBQ sauce, coat the bird legs, and get them back on there. I used my homemade BBQ sauce and heated these up just a little bit – get it warm and watery so it ain’t just ‘glooping’ up on there.

Might as well go full meal for this lunch/dinner and heat up some beans. Serious Bean Company? Love the name – Jalapeno & Bacon.. love the idea. They weren’t bad, but weren’t the ‘perfect bean’. I was okay with ’em. I was thinking – should I dunk the whole leg or just meats. What would look better. As I do in many of my cooks – I said “f- it” and dunked the bird. I decided to scrap the butter pan and get a new one. Placed a jerky rack over it and post-dunk bird, lined up the legs and we were ready for the high-heat finish.

We’re looking good. Like I said, removed the foil wrapped ends, dunked the legs, put it on the grates and transferred to the smoker – now dialed up to 450. We’re gonna finish these hard. Looking for an internal temperature of 175 or so. Side note: If you’re going full presentation/competition, use a brush and uniform-coat that sauce. You’re gonna monitor these while they’re in the heat so that sauce ain’t burning. I had some that were more coated than others, but I’m not competition – I’m backyard, and I love it.

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The Result

Get that ThermaPen ready to get to work. Like I said, we’re looking for 175 without burning the sauce. We want the bird with bite-through skin, a soft addition of sauce, a taste of that seasoning. It’s where all our work comes together. Let’s see the result.

Beans I won’t comment on too much – remove from can, add heat. They did the job. Popped the corn muffins in the microwave to get them hot, and shoveled some of that cinnamon butter on there so it melted over ’em. That butter though – phenomenal. But the chicken lollipops – what a great looking result. The sauce gave them a glow, the seasoning the texture and the bite was oh-so-good.

I usually showcase the main dish, not so much a meal, so I was happy to do so here. Dark meat is a different animal (not literally) than a white meat wing, but the flavor profile was great. I normally choose spicy over anything else, but in this case – a little bit of herb in the rub proved to be the winner. Can’t wait to incorporate the rub into future cooks – and work on the spicier one. (Spicy herb blend, anyone?)

Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed the write. We’ll see you next week!

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The Recipe