Grill Marks: First Public Appearance

Two of our best friends had their ten year anniversary this weekend, and Kristen and Ashley threw a party for them. I thought it would be a good opportunity to share (and show off) one of my previous entries. I decided to do the honey chipotle chicken wings. They'd be good as finger food/appetizers, even though it'd be an odd combination with the lasagne main course.

Since Kristen was making some items for the party, I had to wait until she was done with the kitchen before I could start, so I didn't even begin prep work until about 9:00 that night. So I'll start with the cupcakes she made:

Last time I made the wings the separation of the bones into three parts was the most time consuming, so I bought pre-separated parts this time. Unfortunately the only ones I could find in the volume I wanted were flash frozen, and I didn't have time to thoroughly thaw them out.

I also let the sesame seeds toast much longer this time. I'm glad I did, as I liked the added color and flavor more this time.

And yes, the sauce smelled just as good this time as it did last time. I had to triple the recipe to make sure I had enough sauce for the increased number of wings.

One note of caution - when you have this much chili pepper on the grill, be careful opening the grill. Between the spices and the steam it was like opening a giant can of pepper spray.

I had to transport them from Richmond to Fredericksburg the next day. I tried my best to keep them warm, but they needed time on the sternos to get hot again. Leaving them overnight pretty much changed the sauce to a marinade. Fortunately I had some extra sauce with me to re-baste them. I also kept the scalions off until it was time to get them ready for serving.

Last time I considered adding lime juice to the sauce. I didn't add it this time, but I did include lime wedges so people could add it if they wanted.

Yup, definitely a winner again. Even with grilling them frozen the night before, transporting them, and reheating, they were great. I got lots of comments from the guests about how they liked them, and people scrambled a little to take some home. Note to self - make sure to bring take-home containers next time.