Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Hot Chick On A Stick

This has to be the oddest way to grill chicken wings that I have done.  And I have done a ton of chicken wings.

Hot chick on a stick, Alton Brown wings, tailgating, pub food,
Chicken wings on a kabob.....what the cluck?

But I wouldn't even have tried this recipe tonight if I had not been given a hard time a few days ago from Brandi of Brandi's Excess Baggage.  She told me that I was a big poo poo head politely mentioned that I had never posted about anything from this book.


Why would she care?  Because she bought this book for me when it came out.  Okay, she didn't just buy it, she waited in line to have AB sign it himself when he was at Mall of America where she lived at the time.  Okay, she didn't just have him sign it, she talked him into breaking the book signing rules that day and personalize it for me.

I had just gotten my first degree black belt, he wasn't commenting on my fashion sense.
So back to the wings.  Here are the totally weird things about this recipe
  • It only uses the chicken and two other ingredients.
  • It puts chicken wings on skewers.  
  • It cooks the chicken twice, in the oven and then on the grill
  • No sauce.  I like to toss my wings in sauce and put them back on the grill the last few minutes.
And here is why those oddities work
  • You can cook the wings ahead of time and then just a quick grilling haves them ready to serve
  • It makes grilled wings EASY for folks that aren't grill experts
  • The skewered wings is a cool presentation
  • It gives crispy wings (despite being bunched up together on a stick, I was surprised)

Hot Chick On A Stick

Ingredients
  • 16 chicken wing pieces*
  • 1 tsp Cajun seasoning (used Emeril's)
  • 1 tsp season salt (used Lawry's) 
  • 4 bamboo skewers
Instructions
  1. Preheat indirect grill or oven to 400f.  
  2. Season wing pieces with seasoning on all sides.  Slide on to skewer using like pieces. (see picture)
  3. Place wing skewers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for 40 minutes, flipping once.
  4. Remove and place wing skewers in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
  5. Preheat a charcoal grill to 350f direct heat.  Grill 5 minutes per side.  
Notes
  • The recipe called for only drummettes but I used wingettes and drummettes.  Just keep the wingettes together on kabobs and the drummettes together so they fit closely together.  For the drummettes alternate them "head to toe" so they fit tightly.
Smashed together, I know.   You think it would make them soggy without air circulation.  Oddly, it works.

Hot chick on a stick, Alton Brown wings, tailgating, pub food,
After the oven roasting and just before going into the fridge.

Hot chick on a stick, Alton Brown wings, tailgating, pub food,
On the grill - I cooked these on my Weber Smokey Joe.

Hot chick on a stick, Alton Brown wings, tailgating, pub food,
Since this was dive bar food, I served it simply with chips and ranch dip.

Mini Contest
I'm turning off the comments to this post because I want you to help me exact revenge for the poo poo head comment thank Brandi for getting this book for me.  Brandi LOVES burgers with a lot of stuff on them, the more toppings and condiments the better.  Hop over to Excess Baggage and leave a comment about YOUR favorite burger UPGRADE toppings.  I will pick one winner from the comments at random on Friday and give you a prize pack of a half dozen McCormick's products to kick off your grilling season.