First Smoked Chicken Wings Plus A Slab Of Back Bacon

[OldHoss]

Here goes a midweek smoke boys, I got the day off and I am itchin' to try something new in the Bradley.

To Costco and back this morning....



padded the pork with paper towels to remove moisture and dusted with the beauty paprika only:



I used leftover spice mix from my last smoke for the chicken wings:

1 tblsp crushed mixed peppercorns
1 tblsp paprika
1tblsp garlic powder
1 tblsp Onion flakes crushed
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp chipolate/mango powder
1.5 tsp lawry's

dusted the wings with a moderate amount and massaged it in.  Both the wings and the pork were refrigerated for 1.5 hours and then left at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  It is late fall here and I have this stuff covered with plastic wrap.

Just before hitting the smoker....



Forty minutes in and I am moving the racks around........



I have a preheated wrapped brick as you can see as well as a foil insulated blanket on the whole unit.  Using 60% hickory and 40% apple on this one with a total of 3 hours of smoke.  The internal temp on a big piece of that chicken is now reading 144f.  temperature on the unit itself is set at 220f but is reading 210f most of the time.   The actual temp measured at the 3rd shelf middle is 195f most of the time.

I just took a look at this 2 hours in and it looks amazing.  I can see myself getting used to the sheer convenience as far as wings go using these racks.  I sprayed the racks with non-stick spray and that combined with coming at this low and slow and shaking the racks when moving is keeping these babies from sticking.  My mouth is watering now. 

I have been cooking restaurant grade wings for a few years now but I think I am about to take a leap forward.

EDIT 1:

I cooked the wings in the oven at 450f for 8-10 minutes.  The juices ran clear then started to congele so I pulled them knowing they were starting to dry out.  The skin was partially chewy.  Damn.  I should have pulled them out of the smoker earlier I think and put them in the oven or better yet on the outdoor grill to finish em'.  The wings were still ok but I have done much better with a bake and grill combo.  What really trouble me though is that while I used a smoke time of 3 hours....the overall smoke flavour was NOT as much as soaking the wings in a little water/liquid smoke for 3-5 hours in the fridge before slow cooking.  Now why the heck is that so???  I would have figured using liquid smoke would in no way compare to the smoke of a proper smoker?  Remember I have never done smoked wings before.  I cooked a few thing on the converted barbeque....offset smoker....I made myself but never wings. 

[mikecorn.1]

Looking good


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[SiFumar]

You done real good!

[Waltz]

Wings and bacon look great. Could the lack of smoke flavour (flavor) be due to not enough drying time for a pellicle to form?

[Keymaster]

Looks great, Can't wait for some bird today :)

[ExpatCanadian]

Yum...  I love a good smoked wing.  I normally finish on the grill though for the final crisp up...

Just curious though about the bacon...  that looks like a pre-smoked product?

[Silvergrizz]

I am also curious exactly what you did with Canadian Bacon. I just picked one up at Costco yesterday, never occurred to me to throw that into the smoker .
Regards
Grizz

[OldHoss]

As per the product being presmoked or precooked for that mater - I think not.  The back bacon turned out TERRIBLE.  I cooked it to 135f internal and it was dry and then some.  I have had better made back baon many times over.  This is the first time I have used this brand so really cannot speak to quality in general but this particular ham was not good.  It split just before it was done.  The last back bacon I did (which tasted GREAT) looked like this when it was done:



and I read that I did it to 140f internal.  This one was 135f and DRY so this is not right.  I will be looking for my "normal" back bacon next time forsure - I would only describe it as wet packed.

Here are the wings after 10 minutes or so in the oven:



and then sauced:



Again - the skin on the wings was little on the "chewy" side.  Next time I will pull them earlier and cook longer either in the oven or on the grill to put a nicer finish on the bird.

[Silvergrizz]

Thanks for the update regarding the Canadian bacon,  guess I'll just slice it and toss in the frying pan as usual.