Charcoal Grilled Wings, the Buffalo Way: Marinade, Rub, and a Duck Fat Binder

Around here, chicken on a grill means one thing before it means anything else: a marinade. You have seen the line of cars pulled over next to a roadside chicken pit in the summer. That is Buffalo barbecue, and it starts in a jug, not a bottle of sauce.

This is our backyard version, done with wings instead of halves. We cooked it in July and put the recipe in the caption. It belongs somewhere you can find it again, so here it is with the why behind each step.

Five ingredients. One hot charcoal fire. Some of the most flavorful, tender wings you will make this year.

The video called it chicken two ways, and the footage shows why: half the batch went on with the marinade alone, half got the rub on top. [CONFIRM that is the split; it is what the video shows.] Cook both and you will know which camp you are in.

What "the Buffalo way" means for chicken

Most of the country sauces chicken after it cooks. Western New York marinates it before. The classic is Chiavetta's, the vinegar-forward marinade behind decades of church, fire hall, and roadside chicken barbecues. It was our number two seller in June, which tells you how many backyards run on it.

Weidner's of Eden makes the other one you have probably eaten without knowing it. That pit on the side of the road with the line? That is Weidner's, and we carry their sauce and marinade too. Either one works in this recipe.

The marinade seasons the meat and keeps it moist over a hot fire. The rub goes on top for the crust. That order is the whole trick.

Ingredients

• Chicken wings, split into flats and drums
• Chiavetta's Barbecue Marinade (or Weidner's)
• Lane's BBQ Legendary Chicken rub
• Duck fat spray
• Lump charcoal, enough for a hot, even bed

Why the duck fat spray?

Rub needs something to stick to. On a marinated wing the surface is wet with vinegar and oil, so the rub slides. A light coat of duck fat spray gives the seasoning a base, and because it is fat, it helps the skin brown and crisp instead of steaming.

You could use oil. Duck fat tastes better on chicken, and a can lasts a summer.

Step by step

1. Marinate and season. Coat the wings in Chiavetta's and let them soak. [CONFIRM how long the July batch sat; an hour is plenty, overnight is better.] Pull them out, shake off the excess, mist with duck fat spray, and dust every side with Lane's Legendary Chicken.
2. Get the charcoal rolling hot. Light a full chimney of lump and wait until the coals are glowing and ashed over. Wings want real heat.
3. Wings on the grate, and keep flipping. Every few minutes, turn them. That is how you get an even cook and crispy skin instead of one black side and one pale side.
4. Cook to 165 degrees internal. Probe the thickest drum. When it reads 165, they come off onto a cooling rack, not a plate. A rack keeps the bottoms crisp.
5. Eat. Dry, or tossed in sauce, your call.

Some of the most flavorful and tender wings you'll ever have.The July cook, straight from the caption

How to keep wings from burning on charcoal

The flare-ups come from the marinade and the fat dripping onto the coals. Two habits fix it.

Build the fire on one side and leave the other side bare. Wings sear over the coals and finish over the empty side when the skin is where you want it.

And do not walk away. This is a tongs-in-hand cook. The reason step three says flip every few minutes is that wings over lump charcoal go from golden to gone fast.

Sauce or no sauce?

The wings in the video came off dry, seasoned with the rub, and nobody complained. If you want a sauce, toss them after they rest, never on the grill, because sugar in a sauce burns over charcoal.

Two house picks. Haus-Sauce Garlic Parm Buffalo from Henrietta has been our number one seller for over a year, and it belongs on a marinated wing. Lane's makes a Buffalo sauce called One Legged Chicken that pairs with their rub if you want to keep it in the family.

When this is not the recipe

• Gas grill? It works. You lose the charcoal flavor but keep the marinade and the crust. Run it hot and flip the same way.
• Oven or air fryer? The rub and duck fat do their job, but this recipe is written for smoke. Do it in the oven in January and come back to the fire in May.
• Feeding forty? Wings are a four-to-six person cook on a backyard grill. Past that, you want chicken halves and a real pit, which is another post.

Everything in the ingredient list is on the shelf inside the McKinley Mall or online. Tag us when you cook it.