July 14, 2008

obligatory bullet-point update

The past month has been very busy in a good way. Kara and I joined MJP and Stephanie at a NH lake house owned by Stephanie's family for a weekend of grilling and lazing about, and we did an Upstate NY wine tour around Lake Seneca the next weekend. This past weekend Mom and Dad were in town for Kara's bridal shower; we have lots of neat new toys that I can't wait to use.

I'm absolutely exhausted, and I can only imagine how much more tired Kara must feel. It's been a good last few weeks but I'm relieved to be sitting on my balcony with Labatt at my feet, trying to decide where we should order pizza from for dinner.

I'm too tired to write much but I guess I can put down some bullet points for some of the recent activities:

  • Labatt stayed at mum's for over a week since we were away a couple weekends in a row
  • Dad and I ate at several Gloucester restaurants while the shower was going on and while the girls were off doing wedding stuff
  • I took MJP canoeing for the first time
  • For a shared wedding present for Kara and I, I bought a Canon HF100 HD camcorder
  • Mom and Dad brought me up a case of Yuengling and a snack pack of Middleswarth chips
  • We saw the best 4th of July fireworks ever when our lake rental next-door neighbors lit off a bunch of fireworks from their dock
  • We went to 9 wineries and tried about 70 different wines, and bought 14 bottles
  • We had lunch at Tully's in Syracuse on the way back, after walking around the campus
  • I had my car washed and had to replace the rack and pinion after the steering started making a horrible noise
  • I made homemade chili in the crock pot we got (I know technically you're not supposed to use your gifts until after the wedding, but if Kara bails on me I've got bigger problems than returning the punch bowl to the right person)
  • Rabbitt moved on from the old job and got a great position at NYTimes.com

That's a bunch of good stuff. I know there was more, but that's a good start. It's been busy but fun. This weekend we have nothing planned, just to do any wedding stuff that's outstanding, and then the next weekend is Vegas!

Posted by Mark at 05:26 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2008

grilled buffalo wings

I have to write about this before I forget.

I have finally managed to cook excellent Buffalo wings.

I've tried in the past to pan fry wings, to deep fry wings, to bake wings...frozen breaded wings don't really count, but I couldn't even get those to come out all that well. That all changed tonight.

The idea to grill wings came from a restaurant on Rt. 1 that has "fire-grilled wings" as part of the actual restaurant sign; before that, it hadn't even occurred to me. So I looked for some recipes, and finally settled on a variation (obviously, because God knows I can't just follow directions without trying to give it my own little bit of flair) of this: wings

What I did was this: I semi-thawed the frozen wings under cold running water while still in the package. Then, I put them into a glass bowl while I heated the grill (I've been using cooking spray lately to keep things from sticking, and I used extra this time, just in case). I lightly dusted them with cayenne pepper and black pepper, then tossed to coat. I then added maybe a quarter-bottle of Texas Pete wing sauce, and tossed to coat.

Here's where it gets a little more involved. I put the wings on the grill, heated for about 10 minutes. Then, I took them off, one or two or three at a time, coated them again in wing sauce in the same glass bowl, then put them back on the grill...opposite side of the wing, so they would cook evenly and not burn. Wait 10-12 minutes or so, repeat again.

So now we're about 25 minutes into it. I think I did the same process maybe once more? I can't remember. Anyway, the point is, put them on the grill for about 10 minutes, remove and re-coat in sauce, place back on the grill. Continue this process every 10 or so minutes. They'll be done after 40 minutes.

At the end, I washed and cleaned the sauce bowl--you do NOT want to re-coat the wings in sauce that has had raw chicken soaking in it! Food poisoning from undercooked chicken is NOT fun, and I have done that to myself on at least a couple of occasions! So, at the 30-minute re-coat, once the wings are on the grill for the last 10 minutes, take the bowl and wash it out. At the 40-minute mark, put the wings back in the bowl and coat them again in wing sauce.

Eat.

The flavor is not initially overwhelmingly "Buffalo," because there is a smokiness and a sultry heat that only presents itself after you've finished a wing. Give it 4 or 5 before passing judgment; believe me when I say that these are not going to be your average corner pub wings. They will be different, but they will be amazing. I recommend plucking them out of the bowl with tongs, then, pouring the rest of the sauce over them, burnt bits and all. Amazing.

Now, they're wings, and they have the skin on them, so they are not going to be as healthy as a boneless skinless breast (although I intend to try this same recipe on a cutlet later this week). But, at least they're not fried. So this is absolutely the healthiest possible way to make wings that I believe exists. Yeah, maybe you could make them in the oven, but they simply aren't as good. I think this is a reasonable compromise: it's not as bad as it could be, and the smoky, charred flavor adds something that you're not going to get from the best deep-fried wings out there.

If it's still confusing:

  1. Kitchen timer reads: 0 minutes. Wings are in a bowl, coated with sauce. Put them on the grill.
  2. Kitchen timer reads: 10 minutes. Take the wings off the grill, a couple at a time, re-coat them in sauce from the bowl, put them back on the grill. Make sure you turn them so you cook the opposite side. Keep doing this until you've done it with all the wings.
  3. Kitchen timer reads: 20 minutes. Do the same thing you did before.
  4. Kitchen timer reads: 30 minutes. Do the same thing you did before. Take the bowl inside, wash it with soap and water, and put maybe another quarter-bottle of wing sauce in it.
  5. Kitchen timer reads: 40 minutes. Take the wings off the grill, put them in the sauce, and toss them to coat. This is optional; if you want the wings to be more dry you don't have to do it. To make them wet and certainly a bit hotter, do it. Serve.

Posted by Mark at 01:53 AM | Comments (1)