Fall-Off-the-Bone-Tender BBQ Wild Turkey Wings: Jack Hennessy’s "Braising the Wild"

Prep pan for falling-off-the-bone BBQ wild turkey wings.

Jack Hennessy makes literally falling off the bone BBQ turkey wings in “Braising the Wild”

An inside story for you faithful readers. Earlier this week, Jack Hennessy called because in getting this recipe ready it worked too well. The meat was literally falling off the bone. That makes for good eating, but not so good for a photo. So this week, I will lead Hennessy’s ``Braising the Wild’’ with a prep photo, but include the one with the meat falling off the bone at the end.

And catch Hennessy’s nod to Hank Shaw.

Fall-Off-the-Bone-Tender BBQ Wild Turkey Wings

This is a story of a pair of 2-year-old tom wings. They were tightly packaged and frozen after butchering, only to be swapped from cooler to freezer to cooler during our family’s move down to Kansas in January 2018. They were thought lost, until my father-in-law found them hidden behind some vegetables in their basement’s deep freezer.

It became my mission to make certain these wings did not go to waste and would taste just as deliciously tender as the wings from this spring.

The braise-then-smoke method here is taken from Hank Shaw, author of the wild-game blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. I revised it and applied the same technique I use for baby-back ribs.

Please note: Knowing whether your oven is correct (temperature-wise) is fairly helpful. In the past, with electric ovens, we have had units run low, while with our current oven, we always have a baking steel inside, so it runs a bit hotter. The more precise one is in their cooking methods, the better food will taste. Because our oven ran hot here, liquids inside the pan evaporated ahead of time. The meat still fell off the bone, but, admittedly, I was hoping more would stay on the bone for presentation purposes.

The ending to this story: I thawed these 2-year-old gobbler wings, and because they both looked and smelled normal, I cooked them alongside the most-recent pair. Upon taste testing, I couldn’t tell the difference—both were incredible! So hopefully you saved your wings from this spring’s turkey. If you didn’t, hopefully this recipe inspires you to do so with future birds.

Ingredients (serves 4):

Four full wild turkey wings (can also work with domestic turkeys but baking time would only be an hour or so)

1 cup red wine

16-32 ounces chicken stock

1 yellow onion, chopped

Half stalk celery,

To prepare:

1. Completely thaw turkey wings.
2. Place them in an oven-safe deep baking dish.
3. Cover with chopped yellow onion, chopped celery, and 1 cup of red wine. Lightly dust with kosher salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder.
4. Add 16 ounces chicken stock, or enough to full cover wings. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 4-5 hours, until meat is desired tenderness. Please make certain to check every hour to make sure chicken stock still covers wings.
5. When meat is tender, remove and coat with your favorite BBQ sauce, add to smoker at 220-240 for a couple hours to imbue with smoky flavor (use whatever wood you prefer to smoke. I used chunks of mesquite).

Literally falling-off-the-bone BBQ wild turkey wings.