Breaded Slow-Grilled Almost-Fried Chicken Wings

Makes 12-15 wings

Breading:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
2 tbsp BBQ rub
2 tsp salt

Egg Wash:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
(you might need 2 eggs and 1 cup milk for a large batch)

Directions:

Mix the egg and milk in one bowl. In another, the flour, corn meal, BBQ Rub, and salt, and mix well.

Cover the wing in the eggwash, and shake off excess.

Roll the wing in the flour mixture, and try and cover fully and evenly. Shake off excess, as you just need a thin even coating.

Refrigerate breaded wings for an hour or more to set coating.

Spray (or wipe) cooking grid with oil, and place wings on oiled grate of a 250 degree established fire, approximately 12-15 inches above the coals. Close cooker, and wait 30 minutes before flipping (assuming fire is low). Oftentimes I will rotate the grate 180 degrees after the first 15 minutes, just to compensate for any hot spots in the fire.

Once coating has started to set up on side one, they are ready to flip. CAREFUL!!! This is the trickiest part. If you simply pick up the wings to flip, you could lose some of the coating, so I came up with a little trick that works well for me. Gently slide the wings back and forth parallel to the grate bars without lifting. Just enough to break lose any areas that might be sticking. Once they are free, then gently flip to the other side.

Another half hour (rotating grid halfway if you want) and they are ready to flip again.....CAREFULLY! You can see they are starting to brown nicely...and evenly.

After the first hour, I start flipping every 20 minutes, and moving the pieces around to finish all pieces evenly.

Cooking times will vary depending on the conditions in your cooker, but when they look like they are almost done, I sometimes sauce with a real thin coating. 20-30 more minutes and the sauce caramelizes into the crunchy breaded coating. Great without sauce too, so I change it up to keep things interesting!

Diva Q Bacon Wrapped Boneless Chicken Thighs

After watching both my boys eat burned up campfire food this past weekend at camp, I've decided that it's time to initiate Dutch Oven Wednesdays. Where they cook our dinner, using a recipe and the same methods they would use at Scout camp. They're _not_ happy with me. This is the first recipe in our series. It's probably a little tougher than one they would choose to cook for their patrol, but is worth the effort. Besides now they have the concept of how to stuff chicken. Max even said...."Hey, I could probably just put a slice of cheese and some ham in here" BINGO.....they'll get it.

Ingredients:
10 Chicken Thighs (boneless & skinless)
30 slices double smoked Bacon(thinly cut)

Filling:
1/2 package cream cheese
1 small jar pimentos (approx 3 tablespoons)
1/2 small red onions finely minced
2 tablespoons dried chives
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp bbq rub

Mix all filling ingredients together and chill for 1/2 hour.

Instructions:
1. Lay a chicken thigh out flat and place a tsp of the filling on each interior of the thigh. Roll up the chicken thigh and repeat.

2. Then wrap each thigh with 3 slices of the thinly cut bacon. First Slice goes the length of the thigh

3. The second and third slices are placed around the width of the thigh

4. Repeat until all thighs are wrapped.

5. Fry in dutch oven at 250F for 1/2 hour until the bacon has released some of the fats. Drain off excess grease and reserve for egg noodles! :) Put on lid and bake at 350F until internal temp reaches 160. The baste with BBQ sauce.

6. Finish baking to the internal temperature of 180F. Remove, let them rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

This recipe has been modified slightly for dutch oven use and comes from my Canadian BBQ buddy Danielle Dimovski. Danielle, aka DivaQ, is a top flight cook based out of Canada . She runs a super website, http://divaq.ca/, and competes regularly here in the US in the KCBS series. She makes many personal appearances doing grilling, cooking and smoking demonstrations on both sides of the border.

Honey-brined Smoked Turkey

Honey Smoked Turkey1 gallon hot water
1 pound kosher salt
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 pound honey
1 (7-pound) bag of ice
1 (15 to 20-pound) turkey, with giblets removed
Vegetable oil, for rubbing turkey

Combine the hot water and the salt in a 54-quart cooler. Stir until the salt dissolves. Stir in the vegetable broth and the honey. Add the ice and stir. Place the turkey in the brine, breast side up, and cover with cooler lid.. Brine overnight, up to 12 hours.
Remove the turkey from the brine and dry thoroughly. Rub the bird thoroughly with the vegetable oil.

Heat the grill to 400 degrees F.

Using a double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil, build a smoke bomb. Place a cup of hickory wood chips in the center of the foil and gather up the edges, making a small pouch. Leave the pouch open at the top. Set this directly on the charcoal or on the metal bar over the gas flame. Set the turkey over indirect heat, insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast meat, and set the alarm for 160 degrees F. Close the lid and cook for 1 hour.

After 1 hour check the bird; if the skin is golden brown, cover with aluminum foil and continue cooking. Also, after 1 hour, replace wood chips with second cup.

Once the bird reaches 160 degrees F, remove from grill, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 1 hour. Carve and serve.

Shoyu Chicken

Shoyu Chicken is a popular Hawaiian dish. It is often served with rice. The word shoyu is Japanese for soy sauce. Let the chicken soak in the marinade for at least an hour, the longer the better.

Ingredients

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon ground paprika (optional)
5 pounds skinless chicken thighs

Directions

Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic, onion, ginger, black pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and paprika in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add the chicken thighs, and toss to evenly coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, and lightly oil the grate.

Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the chicken thighs on the preheated grill until cooked through, about 15 minutes per side.

Trash Can Chicken

Trash Can ChickenTrash can chicken, or garbage can chicken is a really simple way of using common household items to cook up some tasty yardbird. I made this recipe years ago as a demo at a Cub Scout campout and the results were pretty good. One of my Scouts remembers it to this day, so it must have been good.

I used a 10 or 11 gallon galvanized trash can that I got at Tractor Supply and a charcoal chimney full of coals.

Get your coals started in the chimney and while they're getting hot prepare the chicken.

I rub the bird down with plain old yellow mustard and then coat pretty liberally with your favorite BBQ rub.

By now the coals should be burning nice and hot. Place a couple sheets of aluminum foil down on the ground, or in your fire ring. Place the chicken on top of a vertical roaster or beer can, soda can or whatever you have that will keep the bird off the ground. You could even use a green apple branch or something that you've removed the bark.

Put the trash can upside down over the chicken and put the hot coals around the base of the can and don't forget to put some coals on top of the can.

I put about a 4 inch layer of coals on the bottom and about 2 layers on top of my can. (Yours may vary depending on the size of your can).

Bake/BBQ the chicken for about 90 minutes. Use welding gloves or something to protect your hands and remove the can to check the internal temperature of the chicken. Make sure it's at about 170 (it will carry-over cook) to 180. OR simply watch for the thighs to get to the point where they're almost falling from the rest of the carcass.

The chicken is very moist and delicious, although doesn't really pick up much flavor from the coals or wood because of the trash can.

Trash Can Chicken

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups

Found this recipe, and I had zucchini and red bell peppers leftover from my last picking of the garden so I thought I would give it a try. It was quick and tasty. I'd make this one again, but would add a 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper to the mix.

Ingredients

2 cups coarsely chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 pound extra lean ground turkey
1/2 cup uncooked couscous
1 egg
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup barbecue sauce, or as needed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray 20 muffin cups with cooking spray.

Place zucchini, onions, and red bell pepper into a food processor, and pulse several times until finely chopped but not liquefied. Place the vegetables into a bowl, and mix in ground turkey, couscous, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard until thoroughly combined. Fill each prepared muffin cup about 3/4 full. Top each cup with about 1 teaspoon of barbecue sauce.

Bake in the preheated oven until juices run clear, about 25 minutes. Internal temperature of a muffin measured by an instant-read meat thermometer should be at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.