Wings "deTX" and Broccoli Salad (Sunday, February 20, 2011)

If any recipe I have is "famous" this is it.  These are my famous wings.  I've taken to calling them Wings deTX because they use my newly invented "Herbs" deTX.  Erin bought me a spice rack for Christmas and I noticed there were all of these herb blends that were basically all the same.  They each shared 5 herbs in common and then a sixth was different among them each.  That sort of pissed me off, they are no longer in the rack, I bought extra jars and added my own spices.  Among them I decided to poke fun at Herbs de Provence by calling my spice rub that I use for chicken Herbs deTX.  Herbs of Texas if you haven't picked up on it.  In fact, though, there isn't a single herb in Herbs deTX.  This is a Tex-Mex inspired rub first invented by Mr. Hoffman who also puts it on his wings.  I'm not exactly sure of the ratios of spices that he uses.  Mine is made with (in approximate order of abundance) cumin, garlic salt, chili powder, onion powder, minced onion, pepper, salt and cayenne.  There may be other things I forgot, but that's why its a family secret.  This is the one thing I'm almost always make when there's a group of friends grilling.  No one ever thinks to grill wings and no one knows how to make the best rub in town, so I come to the rescue and do the deed undone.
I remove the wing tips but leave the drum and "other" section attached.  This makes for easier grilling and better eating.  Then I put them in a tupperware or ziplock and apply my "herbs" liberally and give a shake.  I grill them over somewhat high heat turning every so often to avoid any severe charring and to keep the grease from dripping off.  Justin always jokingly asks me if I'm gonna cook my wings with special sauce.  I think at one point he actually thought it was a sauce cause the wings are coated in a bit of grease that melds with the rub, but since he just says it cause he knows it pisses me off.  I leave them on the grill until I think they're ready which is about 15 minutes or so.
I've also taken a liking to broccoli salad as of late.  In the beginning I browsed some recipes online and instead of using one of them I more or less melded two of them, including things I thought appropriate and excluding others. Mine has broccoli florets, dried cranberries (rather than raisins), celery, crumbled bacon, red onion, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, mayo (quite a bit in fact), sugar, honey, salt, pepper and sliced almonds (honey roasted in this case).  This is now one of my favorite ways to enjoy broccoli and I always make a lot extra as its great leftover and keeps for about a week in the fridge.
Having my delicious cold salad and hot spicy grilled chicken wings I felt the abnormally warm weekend was complete.  I also polished off a bit of cheap whiskey which made it even that more enjoyable.  I'm so ready for the end of winter so I can get to the grill more often.  For now though, the cold weather is back.

*Note there is no space in "deTX."  I used to write this under my street art as a subtle hint of my history in Texas but didn't include a space as I thought that was too obvious.