Grilled Chicken Wings

In Chew On This! last week I said teriyaki wings were useless, that the only proper role of a chicken wing is as a vehicle for hot sauce. But I forgot about Lawson's chicken wings. So to make up for my overgeneralization, here the recipe.

Buy a few pounds of chicken wings. We usually get about 20 to share between the two of us if it's the main dish (which is a little too much) -- around 2 pounds, a mix of drumettes and wingy parts. Earth Fare has them on sale a lot, all trimmed and fresh and organic. The above are not trimmed and are from Piggly Wiggly, but they were okay, too.

Sprinkle wings with a few teaspoons of five-spice powder, if desired. Then marinate wings in a ziplock bag containing:

1 part soy sauce
2 parts water
several star anise pods

Prepare a wood and/or charcoal fire (here it's a mix of hickory and generic woodpile wood) and let it burn down to hot coals. Grill wings for 30-50 minutes, staring intently at them as they cook (at least that's what Lawson does), turning often enough that they don't burn but not so often that they stick to the grate. When they're done, the fat should be rendered out and the skin browned but not burned.

I think there's probably some other secret to Lawson's technique, but this is what I've observed. Jason, give it a try and see if it's right!