Making the Best Chicken Wings

It's my opinion that BBQ chicken recipes are one of the most underrated BBQ foods that are available when considering what to cook on a BBQ. In fact I think that chicken wings, no matter what method of cooking is used, are often overlooked. Paradoxically ask anyone if they like to eat chicken wings and most people will tell you that they love them.

Obviously I'm writing this from my own experience and point of view and I can honestly say that I've eaten lots of barbecue food, but I've never attended a barbecue where anyone has ever served chicken wings, in any form. I'm discounting restaurants; I'm talking about private events as well as where barbecue food has been served as part of an evening's entertainment. Most of us have been to these occasions when on holiday and the hotel has a BBQ themed night.

I've discounted restaurants because chicken wings are an ever popular starter item on the menu of many restaurants. It's not too difficult to see why either. Most restaurants will buy in whole chickens and then joint them on their premises. They'll be left with the carcass which they make stock from, and chicken wings. If they can sell the chicken wings its profit for little cost.

Of course putting an item on the menu doesn't mean a lot if no one buys it, but they do. I've been carrying out an informal survey noting who does and who doesn't sell BBQ wings. I visit a couple of restaurants regularly as well as a couple of local pubs and also order in food occasionally. Guess what, they all serve barbecue chicken wings. That tells me that their customers must be buying them in quantities that make them worth offering on their menu.

During my travels as well I've found that barbecue wings are on the menu what appear to be most restaurants. I'm not just talking about barbecue restaurants here; I visit Chinese and Italian restaurants mainly. From what I've seen barbecue wings are served in about 70% of the restaurants and take-away food places that I've visited, which is considerable.

Have chicken wings always been popular? I don't think so, I think that they are a relatively recent phenomenon and I consider them to be similar to lamb shanks and ox tails. They were once very cheap to buy but as they became popular the price increased. Don't get me wrong, chicken wings are still relatively inexpensive but their price has increased disproportionately over the last few years.

Well, enough said, what about a BBQ wings recipe?

When you buy your wings they'll usually have the wing tips attached and you can cut these off if you want. I cut them off and use the wing tips with a chicken carcass to make chicken stock; there's no real meat in them

Place the wings over hot coals and grill for few minutes, turn over and grill for another few minutes; while they're cooking heat up some BBQ sauce. When cooked through put the wings on a serving plate pour over the sauce and serve. You're after wings which are cooked through and have a crispy skin but are not dried out or burnt.