Smoked wings to eat a few hours later at pot luck

[azbohunter]

I am going to smoke 10# of wings for a Christmas pot luck and will have to transport and then keep them hot for a while. I planned to throw them on a hot grill to try to crisp them up somewhat then put them in a crock pot where then might rest for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Is trying to crisp them up a waste of time considering the crock pot route? 

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Yep you'll be undoing the crisping. If you want to keep them in the crockpot go for saucy wings. Sauce them up. They will get all gooey and sticky. Kind of like burnt ends but wings. It another favorite around our house. A bit messy but they fly off the plate:

 

[SmokinAl]

I like Case's idea!

It sounds really good!

Al

 

[azbohunter]

Thanks for your replies, I'll take them out of the smoker and into the crock pot to keep them till it's time to eat! I have only done skin on chicken in the smoker once and the skin was like rubber, that is my only concern.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Putting them into the crockpot will soften the skin, even if the skin is crisp coming out.

In order to get crisp skin coming out of the smoker you need to run your smoker at higher temps. 325°-350°.

Drying the skin prior to smoking will also help. the best method is to air dry uncovered in the fridge on a cooling rack overnight, or at minimum 8 hours. Applying salt with a bit of baking powder can help with this process. 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to 4 tablespoons salt.

For crispy skin, wings need to be served immediately or you need to warm them up on a hot grill or under the broiler, in in hot oil right before serving.  

 

[azbohunter]

So I did 10# of wings in my MES 30 and I can definitely say they were a success, at least there were none left. I did put them on the grill but not just to crisp them up but to finish them. The MES 30 does not have enough watts nor/or retain enough heat to do 10# of wings that were 37 degrees going in, in the two hours allowed. At least I know mine doesn't. So when I could see I was not getting to internal temp I fired up my 5 burner gas grill and got her up to 400 took all the wings out of smoker and loaded the grill, It took about 15 minutes to finish them and while I was at it I basted them and turned them a time or two (using Jeff's BBQ recipe in which I added a 1/2 cup of beer and 3 TBL spoons of pure maple syrup. I had to be quick on the grill to keep from burning the skin but it seemed to have worked out well. I am going to have a messy grill to deal with come morning. 

In the end I was very happy, (the crock pot would not hold the entire 10# and my wife and I thought it would only be fair to sample them which we each had one or two. gave a plate full to the neighbor and I think there are 4 left in the fridge for breakfast).

And guess what...it all happened so fast that I didn't take a single picture (so maybe it didn't happen) 

I used Jeff's Pecan Smoked Chicken Wings recipe to a tee with the exception of substituting maple syrup for honey. 

They were not crispy but they were tender and the skin was not rubbery which was my biggest concern. 

Thanks again to those of you who offered advise and to Jeff for his great recipes and this site!

 

[mike5051]

Thanks for sharing that!  Points for a successful wing smoke!  Glad it was good.

Mike