Char-Grilled Bold BBQ Chicken Wings

Four pounds of wings dry-brined with baking powder for four hours, then two-zone grilled until the skin bubbles and chars and the STACKED Bacon Spicy BBQ glaze caramelizes over direct flame into something that belongs on a billboard.

This is not a weeknight wing situation. This is a commitment. Make it anyway. Plan for a 4 hour dry brine before grilling.

Fair warning

• Four hours minimum on the wire rack in the refrigerator is what makes the skin bubble and blister on the grill, and skipping it produces a completely different and inferior wing that does not deserve the same sauce.
• Baking powder in the dry rub is not a typo. It's a technique. It changes the pH of the skin and produces a texture frying cannot replicate on a grill.
• Two-zone grilling gives you control. Indirect heat cooks the wing through. Direct heat finishes the glaze. Doing it all over direct flame produces burnt sauce and raw centers and a bad time.
• The butter whisked into the glaze at the end adds a sheen that makes the wings look lacquered and makes the sauce cling instead of drip. A one-tablespoon investment with significant returns.
• Four pounds of wings with a glaze this good will be gone before the platter cools. The only correct response is to have made more.

Fire up the grill. Dry the wings. Wait the four hours. It pays off in a way that makes the wait feel short in retrospect.