eG Cook-Off #88: Wings

[Steve Irby]

No muss no fuss prep on this one.  Grilled wings, thighs and LA red devil hot links.  The chicken was dry brined over night and smoked on my gas weber using a Smokai smoke generator with apple pellets.  I pulled the wings a little early due to rain moving in but they should be perfect tomorrow after I reheat.    

[KennethT]

17 hours ago, KennethT said:

I've currently got some wings marinating trying to replicate what I've had in Singapore - a hawker favorite...  so I'm starting with a rempah of garlic/ginger/shallot/sesame oil, mixed with light soy, sweet soy, oyster sauce, fish sauce, white pepper and some honey.  Smells really good so far...   I'm looking to get something resembling this:

 

Unfortunately, I have to calamansi available - so I'll have to make due with standard US limes.

 

This was the plan - I think I came reasonably close - they were really tasty and even my wife enjoyed them! Enough so that she would be happy if I made them from time to time!

 

I first baked them in the CSO on convection bake at 375 for 15 minutes.  Then turned up the heat to 425 turning every 5 minutes - it probably took another 20-25 minutes or so.  By that time, they had really good color, but I wanted them a little darker, so I changed the oven to broil at 500 leaving the door open a crack for a few more minutes each side.

 

 

Next time, I think I'd start the initial cook a little higher - maybe 400. I think I want them a little darker next time.

 

The sauce is basically my chicken rice sauce - I blended 4 fresh spur chillies (prik chee faa) with about an inch of ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, the juice of about a half of a lime (that was nice and juicy), about a half teaspoon salt and a little more sugar, plus maybe a teaspoon of sambal oelek and finally, maybe a half cup of my chicken rice master stock - which I refreshed that afternoon with a bunch of ginger, garlic and green onion.

[Duvel]

8 minutes ago, KennethT said:

 

These look great - I like the idea of the spicy dipping sauce borrowed from chicken rice. And congrats to converting your wife to wings - well done 🥳

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, Duvel said:

These look great - I like the idea of the spicy dipping sauce borrowed from chicken rice. And congrats to converting your wife to wings - well done 🥳

The spicy dipping sauce comes with the wings when you get them at the hawker center.  Looking around at recipes online, it occurred to me that just about every sauce recipe I saw was very similar to my chicken rice sauce... that's convenient!

[TicTac]

14 hours ago, gfweb said:

@TicTac You picking a fight with somebody?

I rarely cast the first stone.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

The spicy dipping sauce comes with the wings when you get them at the hawker center.  Looking around at recipes online, it occurred to me that just about every sauce recipe I saw was very similar to my chicken rice sauce... that's convenient!

No fish sauce - interesting. Nice wings!

[KennethT]

Just now, heidih said:

No fish sauce - interesting. Nice wings!

there's fish sauce in the marinade for the wings.... but chicken rice's origins are probably Chinese, so no fish sauce there.

[weinoo]

On 1/10/2022 at 3:37 PM, Dave the Cook said:

Then they get a dry rub, get put on a rack in a sheet pan and get roasted

 

What kind of rub are you using? I was thinking some sort of paprika/pepper thing?

[Dave the Cook]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

What kind of rub are you using? I was thinking some sort of paprika/pepper thing?

 

We make a few spice mixture bases for dishes that we make often: BBQ, Louisiana, garam masala, Cali-Mex, etc. There are also a few mixes from Penzey's that we like: Sunny Spain, Justice, Northwoods, Pico Fruta (the last two contain salt, so we have to be judicious, since the wings have already been salted). The rub is usually one of those, used as-is, or modified according to mood. Sometimes we just grind on some black pepper. In any case, any of these add flavor without wilting the crispness we've spent considerable time and effort achieving.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

We make a few spice mixture bases for dishes that we make often: BBQ, Louisiana, garam masala, Cali-Mex, etc. There are also a few mixes from Penzey's that we like: Sunny Spain, Justice, Northwoods, Pico Fruta (the last two contain salt, so we have to be judicious, since the wings have already been salted). The rub is usually one of those, used as-is, or modified according to mood. Sometimes we just grind on some black pepper. In any case, any of these add flavor without wilting the crispness we've spent considerable time and effort achieving.

 

Exactly what I did - some Rancho Gordo stuff, and some pepper...

 

[weinoo]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:43 AM, gfweb said:

Finding wings that aren't humongous is my problem.

I want the ones that you might get in a bar, not one that Fred Flintstone might be served.

Bell and Evans makes a nice small wing.

 

Pretty true here. The wings above, about 5 wings, weighed over 2 lbs. At $5.99/lb., they were about $14. I also bought a whole BoBo chicken, $3.99 a pound, for $14.50. It would take wings from like 6 of those BoBo birds to equal the weight of the butchered wings (i.e. 12 wings). Quite obviously, when they cut chickens into parts, they use the big birds! 

 

[ElsieD]

31 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Pretty true here. The wings above, about 5 wings, weighed over 2 lbs. At $5.99/lb., they were about $14. I also bought a whole BoBo chicken, $3.99 a pound, for $14.50. It would take wings from like 6 of those BoBo birds to equal the weight of the butchered wings (i.e. 12 wings). Quite obviously, when they cut chickens into parts, they use the big birds! 

 

 

Not around here.  We both prefer the larger wings which we finally found at the Costco business centre.  When I'm in the grocery store and see the teeny tiny wings there I want to cry.  The little birds those wings belonged to never had a life.  

[weinoo]

12 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

The little birds those wings belonged to never had a life.  

 

Maybe the bigger birds' lives consisted of trying to run away, every day, from the grim reaper?  What's really a better life, philosophically?

[ElsieD]

3 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Maybe the bigger birds' lives consisted of trying to run away, every day, from the grim reaper?  What's really a better life, philosophically?

 

I don't know.  I spent part of my childhood growing up on a farm.  If we wanted chicken for supper, dad would grab one of the hens, chop it's head off, pluck it, clean it, and send it to my mother to cook.  Those hens at least had better lives than factory chickens.  They spent summer outside and while inside, they had room to roam.  And they weren't killed off at a very young age.  I eat chickens so I sound like a hypocrite but the sight of those tiny wings in the supermarket makes me want to weep.  I just can't bring myself to buy them.

[weinoo]

23 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I don't know.  I spent part of my childhood growing up on a farm.  If we wanted chicken for supper, dad would grab one of the hens, chop it's head off, pluck it, clean it, and send it to my mother to cook.  Those hens at least had better lives than factory chickens.  They spent summer outside and while inside, they had room to roam.  And they weren't killed off at a very young age.  I eat chickens so I sound like a hypocrite but the sight of those tiny wings in the supermarket makes me want to weep.  I just can't bring myself to buy them.

Nothing tastes like what dad would do.

[Duvel]

So, tonight …

 

Mission Chinese’s Chongqing chicken wings (pp. 135).

 

 

Part of the story is that you pretreat the wings to achieve the perfect crisp wing. This idea goes pretty much along the lines what @Smithy has reported here: precooking the chicken and getting the desired crispiness in a second fry. Same idea as for french fries, actually. Bowien takes the idea one step further and tries to dry out / denature the skin by freezing the precooked wings overnight. Let’s see …

 

The wings get salted, coated in oil and baked in a 180 oC oven for about 15 min without browning.

 

After cooling the precooked wings get frozen in an open sheet pan overnight. 2h before serving they are taken out and thaw on the counter top.

 

Meanwhile the spice mixture gets prepared. The recipe calls for a natural MSG substitute made from dried mushrooms & kombu, that I made in situ with the rest. I added some MSG just to make sure 😝. Spices get toasted and pulverized. 

 

 

The wings are fried, tossed in a generous amount of the spice mix and served with just toasted chilis.

 

 

Manöverkritik: This is a great dish. Because of the fantastic spice mix. It hit all the right notes, the combination of spices, the chilis, the sping onions. Coated in the mix, the wings were great. The rest of the family got their wings freshly fried au nature and unanimously declared that they very much prefer baked wings. I have to say that for the elaborate pretreatment the crispiness was just ok. That being said, coated in the spice mixture they were lovely and my lips & tongue are still numb while I am writing this. Next time baked wings + spice mix and we’ve got a keeper …

Edited January 17, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[heidih]

Adaptation is key to evolution  Good effort and analysis.

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, Duvel said:

Manöverkritik: This is a great dish. Because of the fantastic spice mix. It hit all the right notes, the combination of spices, the chilis, the sping onions. Coated in the mix, the wings were great. The rest of the family got their wings freshly fried au nature and unanimously declared that they very much prefer baked wings. I have to say that for the elaborate pretreatment the crispiness was just ok. That being said, coated in the spice mixture they were lovely and my lips & tongue are still numb while I am writing this. Next time baked wings + spice mix and we’ve got a keeper …

 It was so much easier just going to the restaurant!

[sartoric]

Team flat here. Marinated in ginger, garlic, soy, pepper, lime and chilli, then baked. 
Served with Asian slaw and rice flavoured with warm spices of star anise, cardamom, cloves etc.

Fermented chilli lime dipping sauce. 

[rotuts]

@sartoric 

 

Asian slaw

 

may I ask your Rx ?

[heidih]

Also @sartoric can you explain fermented chili lime - which element is fermented or is it a fermented sauce?

[Dave the Cook]

22 hours ago, weinoo said:

some Rancho Gordo stuff

 

Details?

[weinoo]

20 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

Details?

I am so lazy, I used some of this and additional black pepper...

 

[Dave the Cook]

Sounds good to me, and not at all lazy.

[Kerala]

5 hours ago, Duvel said:

So, tonight …

 

Mission Chinese’s Chongqing chicken wings (pp. 135).

 

 

Part of the story is that you pretreat the wings to achieve the perfect crisp wing. This idea goes pretty much along the lines what @Smithy has reported here: precooking the chicken and getting the desired crispiness in a second fry. Same idea as for french fries, actually. Bowien takes the idea one step further and tries to dry out / denature the skin by freezing the precooked wings overnight. Let’s see …

 

The wings get salted, coated in oil and baked in a 180 oC oven for about 15 min without browning.

 

After cooling the precooked wings get frozen in an open sheet pan overnight. 2h before serving they are taken out and thaw on the counter top.

 

Meanwhile the spice mixture gets prepared. The recipe calls for a natural MSG substitute made from dried mushrooms & kombu, that I made in situ with the rest. I added some MSG just to make sure 😝. Spices get toasted and pulverized. 

 

 

The wings are fried, tossed in a generous amount of the spice mix and served with just toasted chilis.

 

 

Manöverkritik: This is a great dish. Because of the fantastic spice mix. It hit all the right notes, the combination of spices, the chilis, the sping onions. Coated in the mix, the wings were great. The rest of the family got their wings freshly fried au nature and unanimously declared that they very much prefer baked wings. I have to say that for the elaborate pretreatment the crispiness was just ok. That being said, coated in the spice mixture they were lovely and my lips & tongue are still numb while I am writing this. Next time baked wings + spice mix and we’ve got a keeper …

Please could you point me to the spices in the mix?