Got some turkey wings to smoke.

[chef k-dude]

Some years ago I "Frankensteined" a turkey and smoked it in parts. It all came out great but the wings were the most impressive to me as I recall. Looking through my computer, I failed to make any good notes. I just bought some turkey wings specifically for smoking. Community recommendations are welcome.

I want to use a pastrami dry rub because thats what I had on hand back then and it made for an excellent flavor profile. I'm thinking rub with a little oil, salt and pastrami seasoning (the leftover seasoning I have on hand does not have salt in it because the corned beef carries plenty already when making pastrami) I plan to smoke them (haven't decided the wood species yet) in the MES30 at 275 for a couple hours till the drumettes are about 185 and the flats about 175. I want these nearly fall of the bone tender with chewy to crunchy edible skin. These will be eaten straight up, not used as a seasoning meat for greens. etc.. Do those temps seem about right?

I read a couple approaches to crispy skin. One made sense, pop them in the oven at, say 450 for a bit after smoking. Another mentioned baking powder for crispy skin, then the recipe went on to not mention it again in the instructions!

What say Y'all?

 

[jcam222]

I think 275 will give you good bite hrough skin.

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

I am doing a spatchcocked whole turkey tomorrow. From the recent chicken wings I smoked I plan on running my offset around 250* until the IT gets to about 150* then cranking up the heat as hot as I can get the bird until it is done.

I will also have chicken skewers and some beef ribs in there so it will depend on how they are cooking on just how high I go.

 

[civilsmoker]

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/godzilla-wings-“a-picture-show”.291362/#post-2005621

I did this post on some jumbo turkey wing drumets…… I have never seen them package like this since but they were tasty!

I will note that I have gone to a 2% brine now and I like it much better! You don’t have to worry about it getting to salty and it uses way less salt…..

 

[normanaj]

I've done turkey wings a few times in the MES.At 275 I still found they needed to go on the grill,under the broiler or in the air fryer to get really crispy skin.

Even though they're technically white meat I found I had to treat them like dark when it comes to IT.

 

[chef k-dude]

Thanks y'all, I was offline for a couple days.

Hadn't thought about the air fryer but it DID occur to me that I have a deep fryer with some long-in-the-tooth oil that would be fine for deep frying them and I wouldn't care if they imparted smoke flavor in the oil.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/godzilla-wings-“a-picture-show”.291362/#post-2005621

I did this post on some jumbo turkey wing drumets…… I have never seen them package like this since but they were tasty!

I will note that I have gone to a 2% brine now and I like it much better! You don’t have to worry about it getting to salty and it uses way less salt…..

Thanks, I will go back and re-red that post. That was during a time I wasn't spending time here. I DID search this subject before posting but it didn't come up, probably because the thread was titled "Godzilla Wings" and I was searching Turkey wings...but still you would thing the discussion within the thread would have picked up on the search.

I was wondering if anyone would bring up brining. Thought about that too.

Kroger has the Turkey wings. It's Shady Brook Farms or another brand, not their branded product, and they have the best price at $1.99lb. That's the regular price, so not too bad since chicken wings are more expensive than that, unless on a really good sale. I've actually stopped making chicken wings for the most part since finding Walmart's "Famous Chicken Fingers". No keto or diet food, but man they are tasty and real meat, not like a chicken nugget. They deep fry to perfection and I pair with my Chic Fil A copycat sauce for dipping or brush them with Buffalo sauce and dip or spoon on my blue cheese dip. I still love chicken wings but those breaded tenders are hard to resist.

I need to vac-seal the turkey wings today since I'm not ready to smoke them yet and they are on their sell by date. I'll report back what's in the package. Your post was just drummettes...now I'm wondering if there will even be flats in this package. I'll also try to remember some pics to report back when I cook them too.

 

[civilsmoker]

If you look at the post, I did brine them, I used a 6% by weight brine (short time) but would suggest a 2% (with brown sugar) now just keep them from getting too salty. I would also say smoke then at 265 just for better skin, especially since you whole wing.

 

[chef k-dude]

Thanks, I did notice you altered your brine. Thinking of that, I also need to keep in mind that the brine will add some salt and to be careful not to salt too much with the rub

 

[chef k-dude]

Decided to vac-seal these wings and get to smoking them later. Not sure what I was thinking other than remembering the wings were so good some years ago. These drummettes are so big, there is no way my wife wants to put one to her face!

I wasn't sure what to expect inside that package...turns out to be two big ole full wings. That package at 3.7lbs means each one is nearly 2lbs! That was one heck of a big turkey...

My wife is not a poultry skin fan...I wasn't thinking about her when I went down this road! She'll eat skin-on chicken wings, but only because they are obviously so good when done right and she cant cut the skin off. She will eat a chicken thigh with a knife and fork.

So I guess the strategy will be for me to eat the flats (unless she surprises me and wants them) and pull/cut some meat off the drummettes for the wife. I can pull the skin off the drummette and roast it crispy for me after smoking.