Brewforia Blog

Smoked Chicken Wings 3 Ways

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:36:36 +0000

October may be the best month for sports. You have College Football in full swing, Pro football three nights a week, hockey and basketball getting started and of course the Fall Classic. What this means is a lot of weekends spent hanging out either tailgating at the game or at home in front of the tube and either way you need good grub to go with all that great beer. Well what goes better with beer than wings? Nothing. So here's todays recipe. Enjoy.

Smoked Chicken Wings 3 Ways

Smoking the wings

The first step in making this recipe is smoking the wings. Once you've got your wings smoked you can create any number of variations on the theme.

Step One: Take a large bowl of water and submerge 2 lbs of hickory or mesquite wood chips in it. You'll want these to soak for at least half an hour but an hour would be good.

Step Two: Take 6 lbs of fresh chicken wings and separate the drummette from the wing portion by cutting through the joint with a chefs knife. This is really easy to do especially if you close the joint which will show you exactly where to cut between the bones.

Step Three: Spread them all out on a sheet pan and season with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Get both sides.

Step Three: Build a fire in your grill way over on one side. If you're using a gas grill only turn on the burners on one side if you can. Set it to as low as setting as possible as you want to maintain a temperature of 200 to 225 degrees. Once your fire is going place your first batch of chicken wings on the grill furthest from the fire. You'll be working in stages as I doubt your grill is large enough to hold all the wings. Once you have the first batch on add one large handful of wood chips to the coals. If you're using a gas grill you will want to put the chips in a doubled up heavy duty foil pan and set that right on top of the coals. When you see the smoke start to dissipate add more chips until the wings start to take on a smoky brownish hue, this should take about 20 to 30 minutes. Once you've reached that color remove that batch and repeat until you have smoked all six pounds of wings.

Step Four: Once you have all the wings smoked and removed from the grill then its time to turn up the heat. Build a big hot fire covering the area of your grill. If you're using a gas grill turn on all the burners and set them on high. Once you have your grill screaming hot start adding your wings back to the grill. You will want to watch them closely because they can burn pretty quickly but you want to really crisp them up and render off as much of the fat as possible. Once you have good crisp skin and its turned a nice golden brown flip them over and grill the other side. Remove from the heat and you're ready for sauce.

Traditional Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

Equipment:

Saucepan

Rubber Spatula

Mixing Bowl

Tongs

Ingredients:

2 Lbs of chicken wings

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup of butter

1 1/2 cup hot sauce (Frank's or Durkee Red Hot are traditional)

Directions:

Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium low heat.

Once the butters is melted add in the minced garlic and let it cook for about 2 minutes but don't let the garlic or the butter start to brown. If it starts browning turn your heat down.

After the two minutes has passed add your 1 1/2 cup of hot sauce and stir to combine. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes then remove from the heat.

Saucing your wings:

Add 8 to 10 wings to your large mixing bowl and add about a 1/4 cup of your sauce. Toss to coat and serve with your standard Bufflalo wing accoutrements. Of course you can't have wings without beer. Douse the flames with a Czech Pils from Lagunitas, Mamma's Little Yella Pils from Oskar Blues

Smoked Chipotle BBQ WIngs

Ok, this is a one that you can take two ways. You can go all out and make the sauce from scratch or you can cheat. I'll give you the option to do it either way.

Equipment:

Saucepan

Rubber Spatula

Mixing Bowl

Tongs

Ingredients:

Sauce from Scratch

2 Lbs of chicken wings

3 cups ketchup

3/4 cup molasses

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbl spoons dijon mustard

1 tbl spoon black pepper

3 tbl spoons apple cider vinegar

2 finely minced chipotle peppers and 2 tbl spoons of the adobo sauce from the can

Cheaters way

3 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce

2 finely minced chipotle peppers and 2 tbl spoons of the adobo sauce from the can

Directions:

Place your saucepan over medium heat and add your ketchup, molasses, mustard, vinegar and garlic.

Let the sauce reduce for 15 to 20 minutes stirring frequently so as not to burn it.

Once thickened add your chipotle peppers and black pepper

Once it reaches a thick sticky consistency remove from the heat

Saucing your wings:

Add 8 to 10 wings to your large mixing bowl and add about a 1/2 cup of your sauce. Toss to coat and serve with lots of napkins. You'll want to drink an American style Pale Ale with this one, something like a Sierra Nevada, Great Divide Denver Pale Ale or a Dale's Pale from Oskar Blues.

Spicy Asian Orange Glazed Chicken Wings

Equipment:

Saucepan

Rubber Spatula

Mixing Bowl

Tongs

Ingredients:

2 Lbs of chicken wings

9 oz of orange marmalade

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbl spoons Korean chile paste

Directions:

Place your saucepan over medium heat and add in all your marmalade

Once your marmalade is hot and starts to get syrupy add in your garlic and chile paste

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes to integrate the flavors then remove from the heat.

Saucing your wings:

Add 8 to 10 wings to your large mixing bowl and add about a 1/4 cup of your sauce. Serve with thinly sliced Thai chiles and a nice American style IPA like the Jasmine IPA from Elysian or the Burton Baton from Dogfish Head.

So give these wings a try and I promise you you won't be buying those plastic wrapped ones at the grocery store ever again.

Smoked Chicken Wings 3 Ways by Brewforia Beer Market is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at brewforia.com.

Grilled Chicken Marsala

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:46:14 +0000

There was a time in my life when I like so many others out there would drive down to one of my local "Italian" restaurants when I was in the mood for one of my favorite dishes, Chicken Marsala. Now I've had this dish hundreds of times but I've only had it done well maybe a handful of times so you can imagine my frustration. Well all this frustration became more than I could take and being the resourceful I guy I am I decided to break the cycle of disappointing Marsala experiences and create a version of my own, one that would live up to my lofty expectations.

Now there are a lot of things I love about this recipe. Right up front its easy, pretty quick to prepare and actually quite cheap to make but it delivers a big plate full of hearty flavors that can only be matched by something like homemade beef stew. I think if you make this dish this weekend you'll find that it becomes one of your favorites and may even get a slot on the weekly rotation.

Grilled Chicken Marsala

Equipment:

Charcoal or Gas Grill
10” Skillet
Tongs
Wisk
Chef’s knife

Ingredients:

2 lbs Skinless Chicken Breast
1 lbs Brown Mushrooms
1/2 Yellow Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tbs Butter
3 Tbs Olive Oil
1 oz Fresh Rosemary
2 Tbs Kosher Salt
2 Tbs Ground Black Pepper
1 Cup Marsala Wine
2 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Tsp Potato Starch
2 Tbs Fresh Parsley
2 Tbs Grated Parmesan

Preparation:

Sauce
Place skillet with the butter and 1 Tbs olive oil over medium high heat
Slice onions and mince garlic and add to skillet once hot
While the onions and garlic are browning slice mushrooms
Add 1 Tbs salt and the mushrooms to the skillet and toss to combine
Brown mushrooms over medium high heat stirring occasionally
Once the mushrooms are thoroughly browned (10 to 12 minutes) deglaze the skillet by adding the marsala wine
Add the chicken stock and allow to simmer for 10 minutes
Add the potato starch and stir in, sauce will thicken slightly
Reduce the heat to low

Chicken
Trim the chicken breast of all fat
Thoroughly coat the chicken breast in 2 oz olive oil, 2 Tbs kosher salt, 2 Tbs black pepper and 1 oz fresh rosemary
Grill the chicken for 3 minutes on each side or until done
Remove from the grill and allow to rest on a platter under foil for 5 minutes
Spoon finished sauce over the chicken breast garnish with chopped parsley and grated parmesan

Serving:

You'll want to serve this one family style from a great big platter in the middle of the table with the sides in smaller platters or bowls. This dish looks really impressive all laid out and your dinner partners will think you are a genius when they tuck into it. As for beverage pairing you can really go two ways with this one. If you want to accentuate the meatiness of the mushrooms and the sweetness of the wine go with a great fall beer like a mai-bock or even a doppelbock. If you want to show off the wine and its more delicate side pair it with an oak aged beer with a little acidity like Dogfish Head Burton Baton.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Cheers!

Grilled Chicken Marsala by Brewforia Beer Market is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at brewforia.com.

Fire Roasted White Chili with Chicken

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:56:39 +0000

I don't know about you but when fall rolls around I tend to crave spicy, hearty soups, there's really nothing better on a cold fall night than to sit down to a big bowl of steamy goodness. It's with this in mind that I have started to develop a line of recipes that everyone can enjoy especially with an frosty craft beer.

The first recipe in the series is my Fire Roasted White Chili with Chicken which is one of my all time favorites and is very healthy and full flavored. Here's what you will need to get this recipe started.

Ingredients

3 Skin on Chicken Breast
1 Tbls Ground Cumin
2 Jalapenos Chiles
11/2 Tsp Ground Coriander
2 Anaheim Chiles
1 Tbls White Pepper
2 Poblano Chiles
3 Tbls Kosher Salt
1 Whole Yellow Onion
Juice of One Lime
6 Cloves Garlic
3 Minced Scallions
2 Small Tomatoes Diced
3 Tbls Fresh Cilantro
2 Tbls Olive Oil
3 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Can Cannelloni Beans
2 Cups Chicken Broth or Stock

Equipment

1 Stock Pot or Large Saucier
Tongs
Ladle
Chef’s knife
Food processor

Preparation

Place whole chiles under oven broiler or over direct flame until skin is charred on all sides then set aside to cool.

While the chiles are cooling liberally salt and pepper chicken breast and place stock pot over medium high heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering place the chicken breast in the pot skin side down for 4 minutes then turn for an additional 3 minutes. At the end of the last 3 minutes remove from the pot and put to the side.

While chicken is browning halve the chiles and remove the seeds and dice the Poblano’s, Anaheim's and a large yellow onion into 1/4 inch pieces and mince the Jalapenos. Dice your 2 tomatoes into 1 inch pieces, crush your garlic and add all the vegetables to the pot along with 1 cup of chicken broth. Once this reaches a simmer remove 1 cup of the vegetables and place in the food processor along with half a can of beans and puree until smooth then add back to the pot along with the remaining beans and broth.

Bring the soup to a heavy simmer and add the salt, white pepper, coriander and cumin. Remove the skin from the chicken and add it back to the pot and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred it then place it back into the pot along with the lime juice, fresh chopped scallions and cilantro. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve with fresh lime wedges and cilantro leaves.