Mesquite Grilled Two Pepper Chicken Wings (燒烤豆科灌木兩椒鷄翼, Siu1 Haau1 Dau6 Fo1 Gun3 Muk6 Loeng5 Ziu1 Gai1 Jik6)

This is a very simple grilled chicken wing dish that can be made after marinating chicken wings overnight. After marinating, all you need to do is to grind whole black and white peppercorns (or use already ground) and coat the wings (adding salt to the mixture is optional). Mesquite wood is added to the grill, but you can use oak, hickory, pecan, or whatever your favorite wood is, to further enhances the flavor. You can choose to remove the wing tips before marinating, but I leave them on since I don’t mind eating them. The wings are smoked covered over indirect heat.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 lbs.	1.5 kg	Chicken wings (雞翼, gai1 jik6)
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
½ cup	125 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1-2 Tbs	15-30 ml.	Ground black pepper (黑椒, hak1 ziu1)
1-2 Tbs	15-30 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1-2 tsp.	5-10 ml.	Salt (鹽, jim4), optional and to taste

Equipment

		Garlic press
4 qt.	3.8 L.	Covered bowl
		Tongs and an oil coated paper towel
22.5 in.	57 cm.	Covered charcoal or gas grill (or larger)

Instructions

Marinated Chicken Wings

1. Clean the chicken wings by removing any remaining yellow skin and excess fat. Ideally all the yellow skin was removed during the vendor’s chicken cleaning process, but some always remains and will prevent the marinade from penetrating the skin. Use your fingers and rub any remaining yellow skin from the chicken under running cold water.
2. Marinate the chicken wings in a covered container up to 48 hours, turning every 24 hours, in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
3. Discard the marinade and then coat the chicken wings with the ground black, white pepper, and salt (optional and to taste). Allow the coated chicken wings to “marinate” for at least one hour before cooking.
4. Prepare the charcoal or gas grill for indirect cooking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Light the charcoal or preheat the gas grill accordingly. Soak the mesquite wood for smoking (oak, hickory, or pecan also goes well with this dish) for one hour if desired. I use dry and not soaked wood.
5. If using a charcoal grill, arrange the lighted coals on one half of the grill. The side of the grill without the coals (the “cool” side) will be used for smoking the chicken. For a gas grill, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for indirect cooking. Clean the grill to remove any leftover charred bits from the last use and with a folded paper towel coated in oil, using tongs to hold the oil coated paper towel. Put the smoking wood onto the coals or as per the instructions for the gas grill.
6. Place the chicken, wing tips down, on the cool side of the grill and cook for 10-15 minutes covered. Remove the chicken from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving with Clay Pot Rice (煲仔飯, Bou¹ Zai² Faan⁶) or steamed rice. The temperature of your fire and previous experience with your grill will determine the total cooking time for the chicken.