air-fried alligator wings w/ hot cocoa bbq sauce

Did you know over a billion chicken wings will be eaten today, on Super Bowl Sunday? Well these wings can't be counted in this 1 billion, as they come from alligators. They're technically the legs of an alligator and are typically deep-fried. But as you can read from the title of this blog post, these wings are air-fried. Not only is air-frying food healthier, there's no oil required- and I'm afraid of splattering hot oil, which is why I have my dad brown ground meat and sautee large vegetables. Alligator meat is naturally lean but deep-frying them negates their nutritional value- but not if you air-fry them! 

Air-frying is super easy. You just preheat the air-fryer, put the food in the cooking basket, put the cooking basket into the air-fryer and press a couple of buttons- and voila, your food is frying!

Technically you could use an instant pot(which is all the rage among foodies right now- wait, do people still say "all the rage" when they mean something trendy!?), but I have more uses for an air-fryer than an instant pot in the near future. 

You should treat alligator wings like chicken wings in how you cook them, but you might want to cook the former slightly less than the latter, as alligator meat overcooks faster than chicken and when you have overcooked alligator meat, you have tough meat and that's no fun to eat! 

It was kind of ironic how all I needed to do was press the "chicken" button on my air-fryer to cook alligator meat! 

Alligator meat is common in supermarkets in the Southern US, but I don't live in that region, so I ordered mine online(see HELPFUL LINK).

You might be wondering, what does alligator taste like? It first tastes like chicken and then tastes like flounder. Also, why the hot cocoa BBQ sauce? It's technically still winter, so hot cocoa is apropos for this time of year. 

My dad didn't like the alligator wings- he said the meat was too chewy, so I probably should've customized the cooking settings on the air-fryer instead of just pressing the "chicken" button. 

Note: the air-fryer uses up a lot of electricity, as the wires became warm during air-frying, so you should unplug the air-fryer and wait several hours before using it again. 

HELPFUL LINKS: 

Alligator Wings: ​http://www.waterbuffalomeat.com/alleboin5lb.html
Air-fryer: https://www.amazon.com/SimpleTaste-Multi-function-Circulation-Technology-Temperature/dp/B01M2Z9P9L/ref=sr_1_19?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1486317092&sr=1-19&​

You will need: 

For the cooking equipment: 

An air-fryer(see HELPFUL LINK)
A medium saucepot
Tongs

For the wings: 

2 lbs. of alligator wings(see HELPFUL LINK)
Salt
Black Pepper

For the hot cocoa BBQ sauce: 

1/3 cup BBQ sauce(I used whisky BBQ sauce)
1/3 cup honey
2/3 cup white hot cocoa drink
1/3 cup white grape juice
3 tbsp. orange juice
2 1/4 tbsp. oil(I used what was left of my butternut squash seed oil)
4 tbsp. raspberry hot cocoa powder
1 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup candied lemon peel

1. Preheat your air-fryer by pressing the preheat button on your machine. 
2. Once the air-fryer is preheated, take the cooking basket out of the fryer. 
3. Put 1 lb. of wings(5 wings) at a time into the cooking basket. Sprinkle the wings with salt and black pepper. Put the cooking basket back into the fryer. 
4. Press the "chicken" button- or set the fryer at 360 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. The wings will be fully cooked when the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. 
5. When the wings are fully cooked, remove the cooking basket from the air-fryer and retrieve the wings with tongs. Put the wings onto a plate. If the wire didn't get too hot, make your second batch, or unplug the air-fryer and wait several hours before using it again. 
6. Put all the hot cocoa BBQ sauce ingredients into a medium saucepot. Mix all the ingredients up until the powder fully dissolves. 
7. Bring the sauce to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let it simmer for 6-7 minutes. 
8. Remove the saucepot from the stovetop and coat the wings in the sauce with a fork and tongs. 
9. Bon appetit! 

​