you could try a sauce based on the Korean fried chicken sauces that are making their rounds in American now, a la David Chang's $100 chicken (no, I don't have the book, and the following recipe is not that); the basic Korean 'yangnyum' sauce that is slathered on fried chicken also works on grilled chicken as well. Sticky, sweet, spicy, sour, garlic-y, it has a lot of flavor in it that people who like spicy BBQ sauces would enjoy. the basic components are: - A ton of finely chopped (not completely minced) garlic, like maybe 4 or 5 cloves - a good amount of tomato ketchup, about 6-7 Tbsp perhaps - some Korean gochujang, 1-2 Tbsp (I think this has begun to be sold nationwide in supermarkets under the Annie Chun label, which is owned by a Korean mega conglomerate that is pushing Korean food internationally now, and otherwise, a Korean food store would have tons of it - GrillinFool that means a trip to Olive Blvd) - some Korean chili powder flakes, 1Tbsp (regular chile powder would be way too spicy, the Korean stuff, while not mild, you can add more of without reaching the same kind of scovilles as smoked chile powder or Italian crushed peperoncino intero) - some corn syrup like the clear Karo, 1-2 Tbsp - a dash of rice wine vinegar (optional; add white sugar to balance if you do) - Coke or Pepsi, a few Tbsp - Tabasco or a Louisiana hot sauce, 1 Tbsp optional stuff: - worchestershire sauce, a dash - a bay leaf - a couple spoons of white sugar to balance the vinegar, if you add it - a splash of rice wine - an onion, chopped in eighths, carrot in thin slices, welsh onion (Japanese naganegi) in big chunks, etc - sesame seeds for garnishing/texture You gotta saute the garlic in a very small amount of oil until soft, deglaze in rice wine and reduce heat to low, add all the remaining components, taste and adjust to liking, reduce it a bit until it's syrupy and thick, add in the vegetable components if you want them at the end so they remain crunchy and almost raw, and then proceed to toss the hot grilled chicken in the sauce. Sprinkle sesame seeds or Gomashio over before serving. I figure wings with a brushing or misting of olive oil and S+P grilled the usual way would work fine for this purpose. Should look something like this:
