Cooking For Engineers

[Guy]

I just found this site and after skimming a few posts I am hoping that someone who remembers chemistry better than I do can help out. I am working on wings on the grill. I've got the brine and the rub down. I want a sweet crunchy outer shell as a finish, in part because the heat goes to the bone and is cumulative. If the wings are a little sweet up front then even those folks who claim no tolerance for spicy will come back for seconds (I use my wife as a litmus test). My basic idea is to hit the wings with a "sugar" as they come off the grill and then use a torch (MAP gas currently) to melt the sugar which then spreads out and when it cools... sweet crunchy goodness.

My first attempt turned out sweeter than I wanted. The thought was to use turbinado, in part so I could visually see the crystals melt down, but getting it to adhere was problematic. So I applied some honey to the wings, torched it to thin it, sprinkled it with the sugar and torched it again until the crystals melted (which is awesome on multiple levels, the first being my wife is OK with a torch for change). This created the desired effect however, the combination of the 2 is too sweet.

I am considering caramelizing the sugar the old fashion way and brushing it on but fundamental laziness and some assumed logistics problems are providing significant resistance to the idea. Any one up for suggestions?

[Jim Cooley]

Methinks you have too much water in them thar wings.

Sounds stupid, but dry them off with paper towel before applying some sugar?

You might also dry them off, apply a really thin spritz of cornstarch and water, and then sugar them