almost perfect wings

[poppypig]

Noob using Smoke-it. Just finished smoking 30 wings, tips off, drums and flats separated, brined 4 hrs with 1 gal water, 1 c. salt, 1/2 c. br sugar. Spread out on tray in fridge overnite to dry, then coated with Penzey's jerk seasoning and olive oil in ziplock for about 4 hrs. Smoke at 250 with not quite 2 oz cherry, reached 165 in an hour, turned off smoker and left wings in there for another 30 minutes than under broiler for about 5 min to crisp skins, didn't crisp as much as I would have liked but they weren't soggy or rubbery. Flavor was good with just right amount of smoke and done ok and juicy but....they weren't suck off the bone tender. Anything I could/should have done differently?

 

[barelfly]

Chicken skin in the smoker is hard to crisp up at a lower temp. You need heat for that, so you could always finish them off on a grill to crisp up the skin.

Also, check out seriouseats.com and read about how they treat chicken wings. This is how I go about my wings, but I use my weber kettle for wings at a higher temp. But I Dry brine with salt and baking powder over night then hit them with rub right before they go on the fire. This has given me the best results over other ways.

But definitely try the grill to finish and see if that changes the skin texture for you.

The wings do look good though!

 

[poppypig]

Thanks Jeremy, I would have liked the skins a bit crisper and I will try your technique, but I had more of a problem of the meat not falling off the bone, it was done at 165 but I had to bite it off the bone, I would like it better if i could stick the drum in my mouth and just suck it off. Cook it longer? higher temp? don't want to dry it out either.

 

[old sarge]

Those wings look great; I would definitely eat them!

 

[barelfly]

Dark meat can be cooked more, so try that as well. That’s the nice thing about chicken thighs, they’ll take more heat and be better off. The wings you could try a bit more on final cook temp.

 

[poppypig]

update on the almost perfect wings:
did everything the same as my January 17 wings except instead of smoking at 250 for an hour to 165 I smoked at 235 for almost 2 hrs to an IT of 170,
wings were much more tender and a bit more "almost perfect" and still not dry, but I'm sure the brining had a lot to do with that, next batch I may try 225 to 170 IT
that's what it's all about right? keep plugging til you get it the way you want.

 

[curegeorg]

Baking powder helps the skin texture.  Finish on grill.  I think lower temp for longer usually gives more tender meats, but it's achievable different ways.  Sometimes its just the meat - search woody breast chicken.