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Red Beans and Rice

Nancy and Jim Berlo put their imaginations to work when they cook for family and friends.

“We love to cook for family and friends,” notes Nancy Berlo of Alpharetta, Georgia. “Even though our kitchen is small, everyone tends to gather around while my husband Jim and I prepare the food.

“Now that we have added a large deck on the back of our house, complete with gas grill and electric smoker, there is room for a lot more people to mix and mingle during the prep and cooking time. Living in the Atlanta area, we have the benefit of being able to cook outside much of the year. Jim has even been known to grill in the snow.

“The Chicken Wings with Sauce have been a work in progress for five years,” she adds. “We started with a bottle of hot sauce and have been adapting and tweaking the recipe ever since.”

Chicken Wings with Sauce

Lots of spice, but not much heat—a hit at any party. Guaranteed. Nancy recommends serving these wings with chunky bleu cheese dressing, celery and carrot sticks.

  • 20 chicken wings, cut into 40 pieces, discarding small end of each
  • 3 TB. GRANULATED GARLIC POWDER
  • 3 TB. CAJUN SEASONING
  • 2 TB. GRANULATED ONION POWDER
  • 1 tsp. HALF-SHARP PAPRIKA (regular is fine if you don’t have half-sharp)
  • 1 tsp. CELERY SALT
  • 1 tsp. POWDERED GINGER
  • 1 tsp. REGULAR MUSTARD POWDER
  • 1 tsp. MINCED LEMON PEEL
  • 1/2 tsp. CAYENNE PEPPER
    Sauce:
  • 3 oz. Louisiana hot sauce, or your favorite hot sauce
  • 11/2 tsp. red wine vinegar
  • 11/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. GRANULATED ONION
  • 1/2 tsp. GRANULATED GARLIC
  • 1/2 tsp. CAJUN SEASONING
  • 4 TB. butter or margarine, melted (1/2 stick)
  • 2 TB. olive oil
  • Tabasco sauce to taste, optional

Wash the chicken pieces, pat dry and set aside. Combine all of the seasonings together and mix well. Liberally sprinkle the chicken with the seasoning, cover, and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Shaking the chicken in a large zip-top bag with the spices is a great way to get good coverage.
Grill the chicken wings over indirect heat and then place over direct heat to “crunch them up” a bit. This method of grilling the wings “low and slow” should take about an hour. You may also place the wings on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes and then turn the heat down to 350° and bake until cooked through, about 30 more minutes. Turn the chicken wings once during cooking, being careful not to dislodge the coating. Slide a spatula underneath to help if they stick.
For the sauce, combine the hot sauce, vinegars, GRANULATED ONION, GRANULATED GARLIC and CAJUN SEASONING. Slowly stir in the melted butter, olive oil and Tabasco sauce, if using. Mix thoroughly. The sauce may be brushed over the wings during cooking or served warm at the table for each person to drizzle on the wings as desired.

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes
Yield: 40 wing pieces

Nutritional Information: Servings 10;
Serving Size 4 pieces (125g); Calories 310; Calories from fat 210; Total fat 23g; Cholesterol 90mg; Sodium 660mg; Carbohydrate 5g; Dietary Fiber 1g.

Order the Spices for this Recipe:

Description Price Quantity
Garlic Powder Granulated 1.3 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.69
Cajun Style Seasoning 2.1 oz. 1/2 cup jar $6.25
Onions White Powder 1.1 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.29
Hungarian Half-Sharp Paprika .9 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.89
Celery Salt 4 oz. bag $1.99
Powdered China #1 Ginger .9 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.65
Mustard Powder Regular 4 oz. bag $1.89
Lemon Peel .9 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.85
Cayenne Red Pepper Powder 1.0 oz. 1/4 cup jar $2.65