Wings and Fish on the Big Green Egg

I bought the Big Green Egg Cookbook, but it doesn’t seem to have recipes for things we like to cook and eat. By including my adapted recipes here, I can share them and know where to find them.

Seems like I’ve done nothing but grilling, lately. That’s not a bad thing. We’ve fallen into a cycle: Shop for food to grill, adapt recipes to the Big Green Egg, grill food, eat leftover grilled food, pull something out of the freezer to grill, go shopping.

This is about three recent meals; foods we love and with which we are familiar, but for various reasons we’ve never cooked them on the grill. Now is the time.

• Chicken Wings
• Cajun Catfish
• Whole Petrale Sole

CHICKEN WINGS
Love chicken wings. Of course, they are a sports bar staple and I eat plenty of them there, but I rarely cook them at home. I don’t deep fry. When I do wings at home, I bake them, but that’s barely satisfactory.

So, I was delighted to see “The Key to a Truly Great Chicken Wing: Grill It.” by Mark Bittman in the September 1, 2013 NY Times Magazine.

He starts the way many grilling recipes start:

“Heat a charcoal or gas grill; the fire should be moderately hot and the rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat. Leave one side of the grill cooler for indirect cooking.
Put the wings on the cool side of the grill. Cover the grill, and cook, checking and turning once or twice, until most of the fat has been rendered and the wings are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

While the wings cook, make your sauce.

When the wings are cooked, put them in a large bowl with the sauce, and toss to coat. Now put the wings on the hot part of the grill, and cook, uncovered, turning as necessary, until they’re nicely browned on both sides.”

That’s fine, but in my Big Green Egg, the fire is nine inches from the rack and I can’t build a 2 level fire, but I can control the temperature in the EGG.

What to do? Fool the wings into behaving the way MB wants.

First, I took a cue from Cook’s Illustrated and brined the wings. Since I can control the temperature, I did the first phase of cooking at 350°F, tossed the wings with the sauce, cranked the temperature up to 500°F to finish and crisp the wings.

Viola ! ! ! Perfectly done grilled chicken wings. Crispy, moist and fine tasting.

So here’s my new Grilled Chicken Wings recipe for the Big Green Egg.

Grilled Chicken Wings for the EGG
An adaptation of Mark Bittman’s recipe in NY Times Magazine.

If your chicken wings are whole, cut into three sections; save the wing tips for stock. Toss the wings you will grill with a little neutral oil to keep them from sticking. I used one supermarket “value pack” of 9 whole wings.

Use a direct fire and the porcelain coated grid. Heat the Big Green Egg to 350° F. Put the wings on the grate, nicely spaced.

Close the EGG and cook, checking and turning once or twice, until most of the fat has been rendered and the wings are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

While the wings cook, make a finishing sauce of your choice or choose a bottle of prepared sauce. Carol made a sauce of tomato jam thinned with white wine for a rather neutral glaze.

When the wings are cooked, put them in a large bowl with the sauce, and toss to coat. Crank up the temperature of your EGG to 500°F by opening wide the bottom vent and taking off the top vent entirely. Put the wings on the grate. Close the EGG and brown the wings turning every couple of minutes until they’re nicely browned on both sides; about six minutes.

Serve with your sauce, or with another dipping sauce. We used Ranch Dressing mixed with sriracha to taste, but I preferred mine without the dipping sauce. So good.

Brine for the wings.
Dissolve 6 Tbsp sugar and 6 Tbsp table salt in 1 quart cold water in a large container (Zip Lock bag is good); add wings and refrigerate 30 minutes, no longer.

A couple of sauces from the Mark Bittman NY Times Magazine story and a bonus.

Korean Style
Combine 1/4 Cup soy sauce, 1/4 Cup Korean red chili paste or sriracha, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 2 Tbsp minced garlic and 1 Tbsp minced ginger.

Garam Masala
Combine 4 Tbsp melted butter, 1 Tbsp Garam Masala, 1 Tbsp minced ginger, and some salt. It should be the texture of a thin paste.

OSTENSIBLE BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS
From: Katy Kline our neighbor in Newton MA and former resident of Buffalo.

(not as good Frank and Theresa’s from the Anchor Bar, but receipe from Janice Okun, food editor, Buffalo Evening News)

for 24 whole wings (about 4 lbs)

Melt 4 Tbsp butter, add 2 to 5 Tbsp Franks Louisiana Red Hot Sauce and 1 Tbsp white vinegar.
(She added a little sugar, ketchup and dry mustard since she thought it needed more depth)
Pour over wings.

Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing.

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING
1 C homemade mayonnaise
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 C minced parsley
1/2 C sour cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1/4C crumbled blue cheese.
Freshly ground pepper, cayenne to taste. Combine and chill for hour or more.

NOTE:
Since the chicken wings recipe got all elaborate, I’ll post the fish recipes separately.