BBQ Chicken Wings 101

BBQ/Grill is one of the best (healthier) ways to cook wings as it drips off the fat but that also make it a little tricky to cook. Just follow a few tips and your chicken wings should be nicely done the next time!

1) Don't rush. Chicken wings take about 20 minutes to cook through and high heat is only going to burn the outside leaving inside raw.

2) Cook with LOW heat - you can either cook at the side of the pit where there is less charcoal or if you have a gas grill turn down the heat at one side. The key is not to cook chicken wings on DIRECT heat. It WILL BURN. Fat in chicken wings in flammable, when it is too hot it will melt off more and drip on the fire which causes a flare-up making the fire hotter causing more fat to drip off and feeding the cycle.

3) Pat the marinades off the wings before cooking - pat dry the wings and oil it a little then start grilling bottom side of the wing facing fire. Why bottom first? Less fat at the bottom so less oil to drip in so you get to cook through the bottom first. Why pat off the marinades? Simple. marinade usually have sugars, molasses, honey, soy etc which caramelize and burnt quickly on high heat and if you have marinade over 12 hours you really don't need any on the surface.

4) DON'T brush on honey or sauce until wings are cook! Same reason as point 3 above... or you are just wasting your honey... A good idea will be to buy a spray bottle and dilute honey with water. Spray over the wings once or twice over course of cooking. This method saves honey and you never worry about thick layer of honey on your wings burning to tar black.

Just observe these simple pointers and a little trail and error experience your chicken wings will turn out perfect every time. Now all you need is that perfectly marinated chicken wings from your favorite recipe or BBQ catering vendor.

Booking Pits Online Nparks

Booking BBQ pit online is a rather straight forward process at Nparks pit booking website. Just follow the steps - search for pit, choose a pit, enter particulars and confirm the booking. Or go to an AXS machine around the island and make your pit booking.

Some Nparks rules for BBQ pits booking

• Each booking is from 12noon to 8am of the following day
• Your booking is for the BBQ pit and not for any shelter
• Once your booking is confirmed, there will be no refund, changing of date and/or pit.
• NParks shall not be liable of any claims in respect to interruption in any of the services and/or loss of property, injury or death in the course of the function held. 

Park Locations with BBQ pit available for booking are 1) Changi Beach Park 2) East Caost Park 3) Pasir Ris Park 4) Punggol Park 5) Sembawang Park 6) West Coast Park 7) Labrador Nature Reserve Promenade

Before you BBQ: Buy the right grill for yourself!

Charcoal or Gas? This is the most common question I get from family and friends looking to get a BBQ grill. There is also an eternal debate over the pros and cons of each. Now, I am not about to get into the middle of the “grate debate” that has not a known end or will there ever be one. So I am going to break this down into one word for you: Lifestyle. BBQ is a “lifestyle”. It is a great way to enjoy food so the right grill for you is the one that fits into YOUR daily/social life. The last thing you want is to spend money and try to adapt yourself around the grill’s limitations!

For those of you with impatient to finish reading this article or no time to finish this article you can stop right here and go buy yourself an electric grill or a gas grill. Why? Simply put, a gas grill is for people who have “lives” to get back to and time is always a “premium”. It is for people with no patience or time to wait around till the charcoal is heated “just right” for cooking. All you want to do is to buy your BBQ stuff, ignite the gas grill and start cooking /entertaining in a few minutes. The gas grill gives you the convenience to BBQ as and when you want to without too much hassle.  

Now for everyone else with a little bit more time on your hands and can afford to finish this article let’s consider some factors that you many want to weigh before choosing the right grill for yourself.

1)      Space, Space and Space! Ok the first thing to consider is always where do I leave the grill? Decide where you are going to sit the grill and if the grill flares up is it going to burn your house down? Space determines the size of the grill you buy and most good gas grills have the footprint of a small refrigerator… If you live in a shoebox apartment buy an electric grill or go east coast to BBQ. If you have a large patio, you can consider a large high end gas grill with infra red cooking and smoker box. Yes, it is pretty much common sense here…

2)      Cost. It is all about $$$, no point talking about buying a nice gas grill if it is way out of your budget right? Charcoal grills are usually cheaper than gas grills so if you don’t want to spend a huge amount on your grill, charcoal or electric grill may just be about your only option. You can also make your own charcoal grill but that is for another time. =) Do remember that when it comes to gas grill it is better to “invest” a little more now than to realize down the road it does not live up to your expectations. At the very least, you want to know the highest temperature the grill can reach as well as burner configuration. You need to reach 350C or 600F+ to sear steaks properly. Make sure there is a thermometer as well.

3)      You have the space and money is not a factor so what about taste? Generally speaking charcoal and wood grill imparts a smoky flavor and can reach very high temperatures for searing and charring. A study done long ago have shown that most people can’t tell the difference between a gas grill cooked hamburger to one done by a charcoal grill but a good number can tell the difference between gas and charcoal with a piece of steak. So to a varying degree, charcoal does impart that smoky BBQ flavor to different meats and it boils down to how particular you are about your BBQ. That being said, the less smoky gas grill does better if you are grilling delicate meats or vegetables/fruits that you don’t want to taste like ash (aka smoke).

4)      Convenience again… Yes back to convenience again. You have to ask yourself if you are the kind that enjoys that spontaneous spark to go to supermarket after work buy a nice piece of steak and grill for dinner. If so, the time to light up your charcoal gill will surely douse that spontaneity. If you grill frequently or intend to grill frequently a gas grill may be more suitable for you.

With a gas grill it is also easier to set up indirect zones of fire to cook those difficult to cook through chicken wings! (Make sure your grill has at least 2 burners) With charcoal you need to physically set up these zones provided that your charcoal grill is large enough to do so. Gas grills usually comes with a cover as well so you can turn down the heat cover the BBQ and let things slow cook like an oven if you don’t have one at home. The Charcoal grill can double as a smoker (to smoke meats) if you are into it and adding woodchips (flavors) to your BBQ is much easier than a gas grill (need a smoke box).

5)      Cleaning up. Yes someone has to do it… If you have a maid or someone else who does it then it is no issue. Otherwise it is a factor to consider. With a charcoal grill you have to clean out the ash as well as brush the grate every time you use it. Yes you can use a disposable mesh but make sure you remove the grate because it can get a little bit disgusting after a while. With a gas grill you can clean the grill before or after usage. There is no ash to clean up instead you need to ignite the grill to maximum heat, wait for the smoking to stop then brush the grates with a metal brush. Though it will be hygienic to wash with soap once a while…

6)       Environmentally Friendly? Ok it is hard to argue for charcoals here since they are one of the dirtiest of fossil fuel. You could probably buy “recycled charcoal” but all charcoal gives off soot and ash period. Gas burns cleaner but electric is the cleanest.

Consider the factors and weigh what fits into your lifestyle the most easily and do you research on individual grills. Not all grills are built equal so check out a few before deciding. If you are getting as gas grill don’t rush the process. Gas grills are so expensive in Singapore, you want to find out all the possible accessories / features that you may want to have before going out to buy the grill.

Personally, I prefer the gas grill as it allows me to cook a steak any time of the week or day. I am not limited by the requirement to “plan” my grilling so I get a steak when I feel like having one without needing to crouch by a charcoal pit for 20 minutes like a caveman. I don’t have that kind of time but I still want to enjoy some steaks or grilled chicken breast on a weekly basis but that’s just me.

BBQ Tips 101

It is BBQ not a Bon-fire! Let the fire die down and the charcoal beautiful white before starting! When setting up your grill establish a hot zone and a low heat zone. Simply put more charcoal in one area and less in another. This hot and low-heat zoning gives you an area to hold your food when flare up occurs.

Now first thing first before you cook any meats try to bring the meat closer to room temperature. Why??? If your meat is straight out from your chiller - the outside is going to burn and the inside is still going to be cold and raw!

For meats like beef and mutton you want to first sear the meat in the hot zone to get some charred marks then move to the cooler zone to cook more thoroughly. How to know when it is cooked to your liking? Well prod it with the tongs your degree of "doneness" is approximate to the softness/hardness when you lightly put your thumb against your index, middle, ring, and pinky. In a pinching position your thumb against your index is your medium rare, thumb against index finger is your medium, thumb against your ring finger is medium well, and thumb against your pinky is well done. Don't worry about leaving the meat out in room temperate for an hour or so it will not turn bad that quickly moreover, it is necessary to warm up the beautiful steak a little for that perfectly cooked slab of heaven!

For meats like chicken wings you don’t want to char the outside and find out the inside still raw! So put it on low heat zone for 5-8mins each side before moving to the hot zone to get the char marks.

By the way, if you don’t want your food to be burnt (especially wings) ONLY apply honey at the very end when you are charring the wings to golden brown. Honey will caramelize and burnt quickly so don’t leave it on high heat for too long!

Another tip for chicken wings – you don’t need to apply butter or oil. If you are doing it right the fats from the chicken skin is more than ample to coat the wings itself.

Tip: Mix some honey and oil/butter in a bowl to get both oil and sweetness to your meats when you do your blasting! Easy and tasty! Make sure you have a BBQ brush...