Wings Wings Wings

It’s that time of year… The big game between the non-cheating Seahawks and the ever-cheating Patriots! I thought about doing some sort of Pacific Northwest seafood, parked with some kind of deflated lobster roll from the northeast… But I decided on wings instead. It’s simpler, and easier to make for the game.

With wings, though, I didn’t want to add a lot of bad stuff to what can be pretty healthy fare. Typical wings are breaded, fried, and tossed in hot sauce and melted butter. Instead, my wings are grilled and either dry-rubbed or sauced near the end of cooking. The sauces don’t add any fat, and only a bit of unprocessed sugar.

First up, I don’t want to spend a lot of time away from the game, the commercials or my friends, so I want everything to be EASY! First, the dry rub is a mix of a sriracha/kaffir lime rub from Williams-Sonoma, turbinado sugar and sea salt. 2 parts each of the sriracha/kaffir lime and sugar, and 1 part salt. Then, the first sauce is also from Williams-Sonoma, a Kobe bbq sauce. A quick substitution is equal parts bbq sauce and teriyaki. That’s all there is to that! The other sauce is a homemade but easy… equal parts (1/2 cup each) of molasses and bourbon, with a touch of chipotle chile and salt! Put everything in a sauce pan and simmer for about 30 minutes until the sauce is syrupy and thickened. DO NOT get this too hot, as the bourbon can actually catch on fire!

The wings can be purchased in segments, or whole wings are easy to cut: just bend at each joint and cut through the joint with a sharp knife. If you make stock, the meatless ends can be saved and frozen for putting in the stock. The wings that get the dry rub can be sprinkled with the dry rub, or, even easier, put in a large metal bowl, sprinkled with the rub, and tossed to coat them evenly. The other wings just get a bit of salt, and all are placed on a tray to go out to the grill.

The grill is preheated to about 425F, with the center of the grate over a cooler part of the fire, more heat to the outsides. They allows the wings to roast without burning, and the sriracha/kaffir lime rub won’t blacken in color (burn). The wings should go on once the fire is up to temp, and grilled on each side for about 10-12 minutes, until the meatiest part of the wings are at 165F or so. At this point, the non-rubbed wings get split into 2 different metal bowls. The sauces are poured over the wings (Kobe bbq in one, molasses/bourbon in the other), and the wings get tossed until they’re well coated. The wings go back on the grill for just a couple minutes a side, just to cook the sauce onto the wings a bit. All the wings are ready to go to the table right away, after a bit more sauce is added to the wings before serving.

You’ll love these wings! The molasses/bourbon are sweet with just a touch of something with the chile. The Kobe bbq is spicy, earthy and tasty, and the sriracha/kaffir lime is nicely spicy, and it builds! And to keep these pretty healthy, just don’t serve with the bleu cheese or ranch dressing… You won’t miss it!

So which are you rooting for? The Seahawks, representing good; the Patriots, representing evil, of course; or the commercials? I’m rooting for the commercials!