Growing up in Augusta, we had one of those gas grills that was basically built in to the patio (gas line run underground to the grill). I can remember that rusted-out grill like it was yesterday - the heavenly smells, the beckoning smoke - my dad picking off little bits of burnt meat that had stuck to the grill and throwing it on the ground for the dog, or calling for my mother to bring the hose so he could douse out a big flame-up. Good times.
Anyway, the best thing my dad would cook on that old gasser was his "famous" hot wings. He would cook them low and slow and they would be crispy, tender, and man o man you couldn't eat less than 10.
The magic of the Egg has now brought perfection to an old family favorite.
The old man's recipe starts with what some would probably call a controversial step: parboiling. My dad swears by it, though, and his wings always get devoured with much fanfare, so I'm not gonna challenge a good thing. So, find yourself a large pot, sort of like this one:
Fill that sucker with enough apple cider vinegar to cover all your wings (this recipe makes about 50 wings), add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt and 1-1/2 tablespoons of freshly ground black pepper. Bring the vinegar with the wings in it to a boil and then let simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the wings and place on a tray or tinfoil like so:
First start out by shaking Louisiana hot sauce all over the wings - give them a good coating (maybe half a bottle for 50 wings). Now what makes these wings so good is lemon pepper. Get some good lemon pepper and sprinkle very generously all over the wings. Add to that a light coating with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Flip all of the wings over, and repeat the process, starting with the Louisiana hot sauce (the second side should empty the bottle).
Now to the Egg! Put your platesetter in feet-up with a drip pan in the middle. When doing 50+ wings on a Large, you will need to use your grid extender so that you have two levels of cooking. If you can fit all of the wings on the main cooking grid, then do so. We usually let these suckers go for at least 3 hours at 250-275 dome temp, spritzing with a mixture of apple juice and apple cider vinegar and sprinkling with more lemon pepper every half hour after the first hour. At the 1.5 hour mark or so, we flip all of the wings. If we're using a double decker setup, we move all of the wings on the top cooking level to the bottom, and vice-versa.
After about 3 hours you should notice that the wings are just starting to crisp up. When you notice this (it may not be exactly at 3 hours), kick your Egg temp up to about 325-350 and let it ride for another 15 minutes to half hour, or until the wings are finished to your desired crispiness. You may want to keep an eye on the internal temp so you don't dry them out - this is the tricky part (we dried out some of them at Eggtoberfest) - it just takes practice I guess, and a Thermapen doesn't hurt either.
I assure you that these wings will be a huge hit. If done correctly, they will be crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and pull-off-the-bone tender.
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