Wings & Alabama White Sauce

Was there ever a more perfect Superbowl meal than chicken wings?! For Christmas Eve, my Mom has always done heavy h'orderves. Will and I were put in charge of the wings this year. Our favorite wings are the wings from Hometeam BBQ. If you haven't had them, you should. I'm not a big wing person, but I cannot leave that wonderful establishment without having at least one wing. And the Alabama White Sauce- oh boy! Finger licking good. 

So anyway, Will made the wings and I found a recipe for the Alabama White Sauce. For a first try, we did pretty good, but it will take a lot more experimentation to even come close to the Hometeam wings. So for now, this is a delicious recipe, but will need more tweaking to reach the standards of our favorite. 

Hope you enjoy them!

The brine (post draining the liquid)

After the brine, before the rub

Grilled Wings

The Alabama White Sauce

Chicken Wings and Alabama White Sauce

Ingredients

For the brine:

1/2 cup of salt

2 tablespoons of peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 quartered orange

1 quartered lemon

2 cups of Apple Cider Vinegar

4 cups of WARM Water (or enough to cover the wings)

For the chicken wings:

2 dozen wings/drumsticks

1/2 cup of brown sugar

4 tablespoons of ground mustard

4 tablespoons of Cumin

4 tablespoons of Tarragon

4 tablespoons of Cayenne Pepper

1/2 cup of salt

For the Alabama White Sauce:

1 cup of mayonnaise

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of hot chili paste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon of celery seeds

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 cup of water

S + P

Directions

1.  Combine all of the ingredients of the brine (salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, orange, lemon, apple cider vinegar and warm water) in a large container. Stir until the salt dissolves, then add in the chicken. Brine the chicken overnight (or a minimum of 4 hours).

2. Drain the brine from the wings and lay them out on a flat surface. Pat each wing dry with paper towels.

3. Stir together the brown sugar, ground mustard, cumin, tarragon, cayenne pepper and salt. Half the spice mixture and set aside.

4. Put a dozen wings in a brown paper bag with HALF of the spices/rub and shake. Do the same for the other dozen. They are now ready for the grill.

5. Set up the grill for indirect heat. Smoke the wings at 225 degrees F for about 90 minutes, turning them once halfway through.

6. While the chicken wings are grilling, make the Alabama White Sauce simply by combining all ingredients. 

Enjoy!

Adapted from: Bon Appetit