2012 champion Christina Eastburn earns top honors with Nutastic PB&J BBQ Wings
Whether one is entertaining football fans or Halloween masqueraders, award-winning chicken wing recipes from the 2012 Mountaire National Championship and Delaware State Wing Championship victors will make the occasion more extraordinary than ever before.
The champions bested hundreds of competitors from 11 states in five categories at the Third Annual Peppers at the Beach Spicy Foods Tailgate Party held in mid-May. With ingredients ranging from traditional hot sauces to peanut butter and jelly, these competitors proved that combining great wings and creativity produces amazingly delicious results.
Nutastic PB&J BBQ Wings, created by Rehoboth Beach’s own Christina Eastburn, a staff member at Peppers, won top honors in the Most Unusual Wings competition. Eastburn spent months secretly perfecting a marinade and sauce combination that includes maple syrup, pecan rub, peanut butter and berry preserves among its ingredients.
Suzanne O’Melia of Suzanne’s Pepper Jelly Heaven Kitchen, first-place winner in the Buffalo Wings category, combined hot sauce and some of her own pepper jelly to create her Buffalo Wings in Hell.
Jeanette and Mark Wheeler of Wy’s Wings topped the Best Restaurant competition with their Wy’s Guys Buffalo Wings marinated and coated with their own Wy’s Guy Medium Buffalo Wings Sauce, and Fat Kid Sauces founder John Grabeic won the Best Smoked Wings competition with his Peanut Butter & Jelly Wings.
Chef Jared Martin of Timothy’s Tap House and Raw Bar in Rehoboth won the 2012 championship title for best presentation with his Kamakazi Dragon, featuring 30 wings specially prepared in a buffalo sauce. Martin also won first place in the Best Restaurant Wings competition in 2011.
Nutastic PB&J BBQ Wings
Ingredients:
30 Mountaire jumbo party wings
1 cup maple syrup
John Henry’s Pecan Rub
1 jar fire dusted peanut butter
1 jar Robert Rothschild Berry Patch preserves
1 jar Ingleby Farms Mesquite BBQ sauce
Diced almonds
Directions:
Rub the wings with John Henry’s Pecan Rub and soak in 1 cup of maple syrup overnight.
Cook in a Flavor Wave Oven (convection oven) at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. (In a conventional oven, 525 degrees for 40 minutes).
Create sauce by blending 1 jar of fire dusted peanut butter, 1 jar of Robert Rothschild Berry Patch preserves and 1 jar of Ingleby Farms Mesquite BBQ sauce together in a blender.
Heat sauce in a microwave for two minutes.
Coat wings with sauce and top with a handful of diced almonds.
Buffalo Wings in Hell (or purgatory or heaven)
Ingredients:
5 lbs. of chicken wingettes
Salt and pepper
10 oz. bottle of hot sauce (heat level - hot, medium or mild - determines whether the buffalo wings are from hell, purgatory or heaven. The winning wings were hot.)
9 oz. jar of Suzanne’s Kitchen Pepper Jelly
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. water
Directions:
On a cookie sheet, season wings with salt and pepper.
Bake chicken wings at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or according to package instruction.
While chicken is baking, preheat grill and melt the pepper jelly in a microwave for approximately two minutes.
Thin jelly with 2 tbsp. of water and add 1 tsp. of salt.
When wings are out of the oven, toss with the hot sauce.
(Suzanne’s tip: you can stop here and store the wings in your refrigerator for up to 2 days and finish on your grill at a tailgate or party.)
Grill wings until well charred.
Extinguish flame and liberally baste both sides of the wings with the pepper jelly mixture.
For more information about wings recipes, ingredients and the 2013 Mountaire National Championship and Delaware State Wing Championship competition, call Peppers at 302-645-0812, or go to 19138 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach.
