Barbecue, the continuing obsession

Honestly, there are some things i can do confidently and well. They are few and far between. I can play blackbird by the beatles on the guitar, i can navigate around MS excel like i'm in the olympics, and i can cook barbecue.

I learnt my trade from my dad, in the back garden, then from an early age, i sought more barbecue knowledge. I travelled the world, and spent some time in the darkest recesses of Queensland, plying my trade as a bbquer professionally. And now i returned to the rainiest country in the world, with the ability to cook summer food!



Ok, so, couple of quick caveats before we get onto the recipe:

1) This is for a gas barbecue. I'm fully aware that charcoal/wood/smokebox/etc bbqs offer a more authentic flavour, but let's please be realistic. We live in an apartment in Dublin. It's not a serious option. (also, the philosopy of this blog is 'good food, cheap')

2) I'm not going to tell you how to make bbq sauce. There's hundreds of recipes, and we've a list below of all the store-bought ones we've use.

BBQ Chicken Wings - Cheap, Cheerful, Awesome!

Buy your chicken wings from the butcher, they're the cheapest cut of chicken, so you'll get a good deal. (I paid 3 euro for 10 wings- makes 20 chicken pieces)

The wing will come in one piece, with 2 joints. Cut the wings at each joint, and throw away the wingtips. (If you're making stock, hang onto them, but i'll go into that another time)

Put the wings in a mixing bowl with a good dose of Olive oil, and salt and pepper. (You can throw other spices in at this point, but it's up to you - i normally add a tiny bit of cajun seasoning)

Mix them up until all the wings are oiled and seasoned. Put in oven at 160 degrees for 30-40 mins. At this point, they will be cooked through, and will be a light golden colour.

Take them out of the oven, and leave to cool for a little while. put them in the mixing bowl with a good dollop of bbq sauce. Again, mix around until they are nicely coated with the sauce.

Leave to marinate for as long as you have.

put these on the grill until the sauce on the outside browns, and blackens in spots.

You now have awesome bbq wings!

Safety Note
Cooking chicken on a barbecue is great, but you need to be conscious of the risks. Raw chicken can carry bacteria that causes food poisoning, so it is important that the raw chicken does not come into contact with anything that will be eaten uncooked.

Not too big a deal - use seperate plates for raw and cooked meat, wash all implements immediately after handling raw chicken, do make sure to wash your hands immediately after touching raw meat. It's obvious stuff.