MES 30 Wings With Crispy Skin?

[tallbm]

Hello everyone. I smoke alot of wings in my MES 30. Typically toss in a dry rub, smoke at 225 for about 1.5 hrs, then toss in sauce and transfer to a grill for a quick darkening up. My problem is the skin is still rubbery. How do I get it crispy if I dont want to fry them?

Just to explain the problem, poultry skin want's to be rubbery unless cooked at a high enough heat.
You are getting lots of suggestions and such to assist you but I figured you may want to know the reason why it's happening and that it's actually just a natural behavior of poultry skin.

Since you have an MES you might have better results at 275F... but SINCE you have ran MES chances are your smoker doesn't actually hit 275F so you may still be stuck hahaha.

If you have a gas/propane grill then you can smoke your wings at 225F until you feel they have great smoke flavor and are not too coked then finish them on a very hot grill. Heat works, so this works.

All other methods may vary for you and you just have to try them out with your MES. I battled this with my MES that wouldn't go over 260F and after drying, baking soda, torches, etc. etc. etc. the hot grill approach worked more often and more consistently for me and using my MES than any other approach.

Try it all. Learn what works best for ya and be sure to report back :)

 

[LanceR]

My wife and I both grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo in the '60s and early '70s so we're pretty particular about wings. Chicken wings were inexpensive and were often sold for pennies a pound to cover the cost of the tray and wrapping they came on. And they were made in so many varieties by so many folks for so many years before the Anchor Bar supposedly invented them that I don't for one second believe the claim that somehow they magically appeared at the Anchor Bar.

With that said, raising the pH of foods encourages browning so tossing each 20 wing segments with 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and not using sauce until after cooking will set you up for crispy skin. Most smokers will have trouble getting to a hot and dry enough environment to really crisp skin, especially cabinet smokers as they trend to higher moisture levels.

Sooooo..... toss the wings with the baking powder and salt, season with any dry seasonings and smoke them until you're ready to finish them on a grill or in an oven at 425* . Save any sauce for after they are done or you'll have a very tough time getting them cripsy. The goal is to remove moisture, not to add moisture!

A search for "crispy baked chicken wings" will return dozens of hits where you can get enough info to make your own recipe. As a further note, letting the finished wings sit for about three minutes before saucing them allows the last bit of moisture that will come to the surface in "carry over cooking" to flash off and will keep the skin crispier for longer than if you sauce right away.

If you don't want to make you own sauce Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo wing sauce is pretty good and is easy to heat up some by adding your choice of hot sauce if desired.

Best regards to all and go make some crisp wings this weekend!

 

[Bearcarver]

My wife and I both grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo in the '60s and early '70s so we're pretty particular about wings. Chicken wings were inexpensive and were often sold for pennies a pound to cover the cost of the tray and wrapping they came on. And they were made in so many varieties by so many folks for so many years before the Anchor Bar supposedly invented them that I don't for one second believe the claim that somehow they magically appeared at the Anchor Bar.

With that said, raising the pH of foods encourages browning so tossing each 20 wing segments with 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and not using sauce until after cooking will set you up for crispy skin. Most smokers will have trouble getting to a hot and dry enough environment to really crisp skin, especially cabinet smokers as they trend to higher moisture levels.

Sooooo..... toss the wings with the baking powder and salt, season with any dry seasonings and smoke them until you're ready to finish them on a grill or in an oven at 425* . Save any sauce for after they are done or you'll have a very tough time getting them cripsy. The goal is to remove moisture, not to add moisture!

A search for "crispy baked chicken wings" will return dozens of hits where you can get enough info to make your own recipe. As a further note, letting the finished wings sit for about three minutes before saucing them allows the last bit of moisture that will come to the surface in "carry over cooking" to flash off and will keep the skin crispier for longer than if you sauce right away.

If you don't want to make you own sauce Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo wing sauce is pretty good and is easy to heat up some by adding your choice of hot sauce if desired.

Best regards to all and go make some crisp wings this weekend!

Great Info Lance!!!
I heard Bad Things About that Buffalo Area & Chicken Wings.
I used to watch the Sit-Com "Coach", and I remember the episode where the Minnesota Team traveled to Buffalo for a Big Football game. Luther (Assistant Coach) was all excited because they were going to be able to get some of the World's most Famous Wings, from a place in Buffalo (I forget the name). So they get there & Luther Takes the whole team there for Wings. Then the next Day (Game Day) the whole team gets sick, and they get blown out by a Huge margin in the game.
Then they find out that the people at the place they got the Wings were Huge Fans of the Buffalo Home Team. Coach was NOT HAPPY !!! Especially with Luther (Jerry Van Dyke). Very Funny Program!!!

Bear