Pre cooked wings!

[power]

Hi, have a 40th birthday party in a few weeks! My wife just wants finger food to serve up! If i marinade and cook 10kg of chicken wings up, can i freeze them and then reheat on a flat gas bbq on the night of the party? Cheers

[MrHoss]

You could do it but they will be awful. Better to spend the money ordering out if you do not have the time to cook wings fresh. Off hand I can't think of anything that reheats well.....but I am one picky bugger.

[mrbill]

wings are not an item that re-heats well, especially from frozen. based on the amount you're talking about(10kg=about 22lbs), I'd highly recommend buying a cheap turkey fryer set up and using that the day of to do them in a couple large batches and sauce them after each batch is finished. if you can't to that, I have two suggestions(haven't tried either, so I can't say how they'll turn out. I was just thinking off the top of my head).
1-day before-pre-cook them all naked using medium indirect heat(to prevent the skin from crisping/charring). as they finish, pull them off(individually if you must) and set aside. once they're at room temp, put them in a container(or containers) and into the fridge. pull them out of the fridge and spread them out about(so they can come up to room temp) 45 min before they need to be served. 15min before serving, re-heat them on a grill with med-high direct heat to warm and crisp up the skin, then sauce as you wish.
2-all done day of- place a large stock pot half filled with water on the stove and get it to almost boiling. while the water is warming up, set the wings on the counter to let them warm up a bit. fire up your grill during this time. once the water is almost boiling, crank the heat up until the boil starts. once boiling, cook the wings in batches until they are almost done. then toss them on the grill to finish cooking and crisp the skin up. then sauce and serve.

good luck and happy birthday early!

[austin87]

If you want to do them in advance I would not freeze them, but you could probably get by just putting them in the fridge. Without cooking fresh the skin is probably going to be soggy. It definitely won't be crispy, which is what I think makes wings awesome.

[Sramsey]

22lbs. Pick up another grill on CL. Greatest line you can use on the wife. " wifey I need another grill to cook all this food on. "

[AZ Monsoon]

Honestly, mine only stay on the grill for about 30 - 35 minutes so I'm not sure how much time you're saving. 22 lbs though ha ha. I don't know man. I'm with Sramsey. Pick up a few more grills

[power]

Cheers guys! I will cook them on the night! The hotel function room we are hiring will not allow charcoal/heatbeads etc! But the hotel has an 8 burner gas hot plate outside that we can use! All the rest of our fingerfood will be cooked in the hotel kitchen ovens!