Louisville Wings

By avpeters

Ingredients

• 4 lbs chicken wings
• 2 tbsp lemon pepper
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea)
• 10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) salted butter
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup dijon mustard
• 2/3 cup Tabasco sauce or your favorite hot sauce (I increased this to 1 cup)
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2/3 cup bourbon
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Step 1

1) Cut whole wings into pieces. Place in a nonreactive bowl and sprinkle and toss with lemon pepper, paprika and 2 tbsp salt. Let the wings cure in the refrigerator, covered, for about an hour.
2) Melt the butter in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until it is fragrant and sizzling, but not browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, hot sauce, lemon juice, bourbon, brown sugar, and black pepper. Season with salt to taste. Bring bourbon mixture to a boil and let boil for 3 minutes, then let cool to room temperature.
3) Once it is cool, pour half the bourbon mixture over the wings and toss to mix. Let the wings marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 4-6 hours. Set the remaining sauce aside for basting later.
4) Set up the cooker with a raised grid direct setup. Aim for 275°-300° dome temp.
5) When ready to cook, drain the marinade from the wings and discard. Brush and oil the grill grate. Place the wings onto the grill and flip every 15-20 minutes. Baste with reserved sauce each time you flip.
I made two changes from the original recipe. One was the addition of more hot sauce than was called for. The second change was I did it direct on a raised grid at 275° - 300° for 1-2 hrs whereas the recipe called for doing them indirect with a drip pan for a shorter time.