Over cooking chicken wings, purposefully.

montanasmoke · May 22, 2014

Hi folks, :grilling_smilie:

I did some searching over the last few days and haven't come across this topic so I figured I'd throw it out there!

I'm a huge fan of America's test kitchen (check them out if you haven't) because of their trial and error and scientific approach to cooking and recipe building.

Recently, I grilled some tandoori chicken wings on my GMG using their recipe. After watching their video I learned something interesting to solve the general problem of chicken wings being too ’chewy’.

Here's a Q-view for fun :)

image.jpg

montanasmoke
May 22, 2014

They recommend cooking the chicken past the usual 165 degrees all the way to 180 degrees.

Their logic is that collagen does not break down until 170 degrees. When you cook them past 170 degrees the collagen begins to melt and break down into gelatin, leaving the chicken much more tender and juicer.

After trying this once I haven't looked back and will continue to cook my chicken wings to 180 degrees (unless, of course, I'm doing a simple breast or anything boneless).

Has anyone out there heard of this technique? Any thoughts?
Try and it let me know if you taste the difference I sure tasted!

Cheers!

:usa: :36:

Anthony

jp61 · May 22, 2014

I like that show too and use to watch it often.

Everything they make, looks and tastes great, just like here!

Will have to give that a try some day.

venture · May 22, 2014

I never thought about sticking a therm in wings? Not much meat there to get a good reading. Kinda like pork ribs.

I miss that show. We used to get it, but haven't found it for a while.

Sometimes the show was a bit hokey, but they had some good recipes. I always liked their product reviews.

Good luck and good smoking.

chestnutbloom · May 22, 2014

I too enjoy "overcooking" my wings. I like to separate the drums from the flats and overcook the drums a little bit and the flats a lot. Oh they turn out so good!!

montanasmoke · May 22, 2014

Venture said:
I never thought about sticking a therm in wings? Not much meat there to get a good reading. Kinda like pork ribs.

Yes. I agree on that. It works though. I just take some tongs and make sure I can see where I'm poking to get a good reading.

x0xsaywhutx0x · May 28, 2014

What channel is the show on? Id like to check it out

pops6927 · May 30, 2014

A wing place opened up next door to the RadioShack I managed, (called "The Wing Shack", company tried to sue them but it didn't hold up in court). They deep-fried all their wings and would bring over 'test samples' for us to try, and would give us wing orders that were not picked up. They would deep-fry their wings like french fries, then toss them in bowls with different sauces to coat them. We actually preferred the wings crispy and slightly over-cooked, so they sold them that way and they were a big success! A couple years later, the owner put his dad in charge and went off drilling gas wells (they were paying over $100/hour, he had an engineering degree, the wings were a 3 generation family business). Within a year the dad went out of business, he baked the wings cuz he didn't like filtering and changing the oil. And, he cut us off, which was just as well, the wings were bad and as business declined, half-rotten too. When the owner first opened (he was in his 30's) we talked up his product, gave out free coupons he supplied for free wings 12-pc for every cell phone purchased and his business was booming!

dirtsailor2003 · May 30, 2014

I'm pretty sure I always over cook my wings and the full size drumsticks. One part if the chicken I really like charred.

With that said I don't know how you can get a really good read anywhere in the wing to get a good temp using a probe style therm. Maybe a infrared therm could get ya close.

Still have to say that Scarbelly style wings are the best! When done over high heat cooked to a crisp! Best flavor ever!

sqwib · May 30, 2014

MontanaSmoke said:
Hi folks,

I did some searching over the last few days and haven't come across this topic so I figured I'd throw it out there!

I'm a huge fan of America's test kitchen (check them out if you haven't) because of their trial and error and scientific approach to cooking and recipe building.

Recently, I grilled some tandoori chicken wings on my GMG using their recipe. After watching their video I learned something interesting to solve the general problem of chicken wings being too ’chewy’.

Here's a Q-view for fun :)

image.jpg

montanasmoke

May 22, 2014

They recommend cooking the chicken past the usual 165 degrees all the way to 180 degrees.

Their logic is that collagen does not break down until 170 degrees. When you cook them past 170 degrees the collagen begins to melt and break down into gelatin, leaving the chicken much more tender and juicer.

After trying this once I haven't looked back and will continue to cook my chicken wings to 180 degrees (unless, of course, I'm doing a simple breast or anything boneless).

Has anyone out there heard of this technique? Any thoughts?
Try and it let me know if you taste the difference I sure tasted!

Cheers!

Anthony

I do the same with small chix.

The rendering part is definitely great with wings, especially if you're the type that don't like your wings fatty.

I have been doing wings with a Sous vide machine at 170° for 3 hours or so, then air dry overnight and deep fry for 4 minutes or so, best wings to date!

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

Rendered fat, used for Wing Soup.

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

Just did 30 pounds more a few weeks ago.

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

My Home Made Sous Vide machine and a batch of wings that were cooked in the Sous Vide Machine and frozen to fry later.

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

Cooking on a pit Low and Slow for a few hours and grill or deep fry works great too!

Here's some drummettes that were cooked on the pit several hours that rendered nicely.

Buffalo Drums on the left Bourbon Drums and Bites on the right.

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

Thigh and Drum experiment.

Dry ingredients were better than a slather.

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

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sqwib
May 30, 2014

nc cue · Jun 15, 2014

I'm a big fan of smoking them to 165-170, letting them cool off, then deep-frying them for a bit when people are ready to eat.

Over cooking chicken wings, purposefully.

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