Frying sous vide wings from frozen

[Hassouni]

Hey all, chicken wing R&D time!

 

Kenji writes that double cooking is the way to go for the crispiest wings. In his method, he "confits" the wings in oil, lets them cool, and then flash fries them very hot. He also writes that Danny Bowien does something similar, but freezes them and fries the par-cooked wings from frozen.

 

I tried doing Kenji's confit thing but it ruined my wok (but produced great results once fried). In the second round, I par-cooked the wings in a circulator (at 150º? for 2hrs? Don't remember precisely), froze them, and fried from frozen. In both cases, the end product was really good.

 

I know that commercial kitchens fry frozen already-cooked wings all the time - but when I did it, I got volcanic levels of oil bubbling and spattering in the first 10-20 seconds (which honestly didn't surprise me), and had I used a straight-sided pot rather than a wok, I probably would've had a grease fire. Is there something different about a commercial fryer that prevents such a violent reaction? I will be doing these at my bar in standard commercial fryers, so I'm curious how commercial kitchens avoid crazy oil flare-ups

[Shalmanese]

How are you drying your wings post-SV? I've always found it difficult to get SV wings dry since the bag liquid is so full of gelatin it will thicken at room temp. Usually, what happens is there will still be liquid on the outside of your wings when you freeze which will explode in the oil. I always just keep my SV wings in the fridge uncovered, flipping every day. They last up to a week and they get better as they sit since the outside dries out and causes a crispier wing.

 

If you're doing this in a restaurant context, maybe "washing" the wings in warm fat before freezing would help with the splattering. The oil will displace the water and, once you drop them in the fryer, there should be significantly less splattering. Maybe set a deep fryer up at 120C, then just get a few wings in a spider and swish them around in the oil for 10 seconds or so before laying them out on a sheet tray and freezing.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Shalmanese (log)

[Hassouni]

2 hours ago, Shalmanese said:

How are you drying your wings post-SV? I've always found it difficult to get SV wings dry since the bag liquid is so full of gelatin it will thicken at room temp. Usually, what happens is there will still be liquid on the outside of your wings when you freeze which will explode in the oil. I always just keep my SV wings in the fridge uncovered, flipping every day. They last up to a week and they get better as they sit since the outside dries out and causes a crispier wing.

 

 

That may be worth trying. Do you think the wings could be frozen after a day in the fridge, or is it not worth it?