eG Cook-Off #88: Wings

[ElsieD]

All I can say is that I have never had baked wings that were as crispy as these.  

[KennethT]

35 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

All I can say is that I have never had baked wings that were as crispy as these.  

Do you think they were, for lack of a better term, "less chicken-y"?  I'm thinking that it's basically making chicken stock...

[ElsieD]

8 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Do you think they were, for lack of a better term, "less chicken-y"?  I'm thinking that it's basically making chicken stock...

 

We talked about that and we didn't notice any difference in the taste.  But then, these were eaten with hot sauce so that may be why.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

It's also the Westermann method for roast chicken.    Par"poaching', that is.

 

And that dude can roast a chicken!

I really think, just as with the ribs mentioned above, it's to "clean" up the protein and start it on its way. Gets rid of whatever schmutz might be around. Probably blanching for a minute or two "renders" the same result as 7 -10.

 

The above based on absolutely zero scientific knowledge or evidence. Just a hunch.

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

And that dude can roast a chicken!

I really think, just as with the ribs mentioned above, it's to "clean" up the protein and start it on its way. Gets rid of whatever schmutz might be around. Probably blanching for a minute or two "renders" the same result as 7 -10.

 

The above based on absolutely zero scientific knowledge or evidence. Just a hunch.

I get it with a whole chicken because a whole chicken would take a long time to leach all of its flavor into the poaching water - the surface area to volume ratio is much smaller than a wing.  Years ago when I made a bunch of whole ducks, my preferred method was to poach the whole duck for 10-20 minutes to render a lot of the fat from under the skin, then dry and sit in the refrigerator for 3 days to dry skin.  Then, when the duck was roasted (technically baked), most of the fat was completely rendered and the skin was amazing.  The duck still had tons of flavor because the meat was barely cooked by the time it was removed from the poaching liquid.

 

I think the next time I make wings - maybe next week as I just learned that my wife was a HUGE fan of the wings I made previously) - I'll try steaming them for a while to render the fat, then chilling them down before baking.  Or maybe "super steam" in the CSO at like 250F....

Edited February 6, 2022 by KennethT (log)

[sartoric]

This was a Moroccan tajine of wings with chickpeas, olives and preserved lemon. I grew and preserved both the olives and lemons. In the sauce is a fiery harissa from home grown chillies.

The green stuff on top is shatta and a sprinkling of parsley, both also from our garden.

It was even better for lunch the following day.

[heidih]

Wow! Your sharing f yu preserving rocesses of home grown would be wekcome in the topic  Vhttps://forums.egullet.org/topic/153585-what-are-you-preserving-and-how-are-you-doing-it-2016–/page/57/#comment-2329283

 

[Smithy]

@sartoric, I think of shatta as the Egyptian (or perhaps more broadly Arabic) chili pepper. What is it in this case?

[sartoric]

19 hours ago, Smithy said:

@sartoric, I think of shatta as the Egyptian (or perhaps more broadly Arabic) chili pepper. What is it in this case?

It was a Sami Tamimi recipe found by Google. Sliced green chillies and salt in the fridge for 3 days, then blitzed with cider vinegar and lemon juice. Simple and helps when you have a glut of green chillies.

[heidih]

We werer not imagining the cost and supply drama  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-10/chicken-wing-crunch-has-restaurants-scrambling-ahead-of-super-bowl

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, heidih said:

We werer not imagining the cost and supply drama  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-10/chicken-wing-crunch-has-restaurants-scrambling-ahead-of-super-bowl

One thing made me wonder:

 

On Super Bowl weekend, there will be constraints on wing mania. For example, football fans ordering from Domino’s Pizza Inc. may notice just eight boneless wings per order versus 10 previously.

 

My understanding was that these “boneless wings” aren’t wings at all - they are mostly breast, cut in the size/shape of a n average wing piece. So how can these be affected by the demand for wings themselves ? Or is Domino’s just cashing in on the wing shortage ..?

[heidih]

Yes Dominoes own site says they are breast meat. Who knows. Pushing the the envelope of consumer gullibility as usual I imagine. 

[Shelby]

Is there maybe a storage of chickens in general--or a shortage of getting chicken meat delivered ?

[Duvel]

You are right, the article suggests that.
 

But with title and opener focused on wings (hence @heidihs post here in the Cook-Off) I felt closing the article stating that “boneless wings” from Domino’s are seeing reduced portion sizes as well would have been a great opportunity to point out that these are actually not wings and Domino’s is just cashing in on the shortage. But then again I am not a journalist …

[heidih]

I i the "journalist" was just ridng the SuerBowl interest wave in feaming the piece. Article text states chicken in general is in popular more:

An unprecedented surge in chicken popularity is at the root of wing inflation. Nearly all types of restaurants have seen a drop in locations over the past four years except one, called “Southern,” and that’s because that category includes fried chicken joints like KFC, Popeyes, Bojangles and Raising Cane’s. Those types of restaurants have expanded 18%, compared with an 8% drop overall, according to industry researcher Datassential."

 

I must say the recipes featured on-line that captured my attention were tamarond ginger glazed that retain crunch. Perhaps some eGers will have Mnday mornng wing quarterbacking comments on Vaentine's day

 

[KennethT]

I'm planning to remake the Singapore wings tomorrow for the Superbowl - not that we'll be watching any of it, other than maybe the commercials, but we can see them on YouTube now.  I was thinking about deep frying the wings to get them more evenly crispy and browned but I'm using a wet marinade and I'm having visions of being covered in exploding oil and taking another trip to the ER.  Too bad I threw away my modified shoes from the Foot Burning Sauce episode.

 

Any thoughts as to deep frying a non-battered or dredged wing that had been marinated for hours?  Should I skip it and just do the whole broiling thing all over again (with a possible pre-steam to render more fat)?

[Kerala]

On 1/10/2022 at 7:04 PM, gfweb said:

 

Can't have two people managing a home kitchen.

 

It leads to atrocities like  two bags of potatoes being combined...mixing the old with the new.  "they're all potatoes right?"  and "I didn't see any reason to separate those onions".

My MIL recently put the cinnamon sticks in with the cloves. "When you use one you use the other, it tastes the same. I didn't do it!" No one else even touches cloves except she and I in our kitchen, and my 17 yo daughter only uses cinnamon for western style pastries.

 

Keeps life interesting.

[Shelby]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

I'm planning to remake the Singapore wings tomorrow for the Superbowl - not that we'll be watching any of it, other than maybe the commercials, but we can see them on YouTube now.  I was thinking about deep frying the wings to get them more evenly crispy and browned but I'm using a wet marinade and I'm having visions of being covered in exploding oil and taking another trip to the ER.  Too bad I threw away my modified shoes from the Foot Burning Sauce episode.

 

Any thoughts as to deep frying a non-battered or dredged wing that had been marinated for hours?  Should I skip it and just do the whole broiling thing all over again (with a possible pre-steam to render more fat)?

That does make me a bit nervous for you.......any liquids are going to make that oil pop big time (I fried a few goose hearts recently and although I thought I had dried them enough, I hadn't and it was a mess and it was scary lol).  Drying them off, of course, takes your marinade off....but maybe it has penetrated enough....  If it's dredged, I think that would be better.  Non-battered , IMO, is too liquid-y.

[Shelby]

These were made on the fly --I didn't plan on it until I realized I wanted to eat some of the egg rolls I made yesterday.  Sticky and crispy wings--Asian style.  You dry and toss the wings in baking powder, salt and pepper, bake for a bit at 250F and then turn up the heat and bake a bit more at 425F.  Then toss in a sauce made of the following:

 

1 tsp vegetable oil

▢ pinch of salt and pepper

▢ 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger - peeled and minced

▢ 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

▢ 2 tbsp honey

▢ 4 tbsp brown sugar

▢ 5 tbsp dark soy sauce

▢ 1 tsp lemon grass paste

▢ 2 cloves garlic - peeled and minced

 

I didn't have the lemon grass paste so I omitted.  Also omitted the brown sugar as I felt the honey was enough.  Also changed the sweet chili sauce to a spicy sauce that Ronnie's brother and his wife made.  Other changes include not cooking the wings nearly as long as the recipe says.  I did mine in the CSO which is faster anyway....plus I only did a few wings.

 

I'd make this again for sure.  They weren't super crispy, but more so than ones I've made in the past.

 

[Dave the Cook]

Due to various dental issues, we haven't had wings in a while. So I watched Kenji's video to refresh my memory of the procedure. I was a little taken aback when he started with separated wing parts, drums and flats (he is a flats guy, in case you're interested), not because I missed out on a bit of butchery, but because he left out the tips. Then I remembered that we're outliers in cooking whole wings, tips and all. We figure it's a dish that celebrates texture as much as flavor, and the crunch of a well-roasted wingtip (from a chicken, not a dress shoe) has few if any parallels. 

 

After recovering from my shock, I made up a "rub" per Kenji's formula: 1 t kosher salt, 1 t baking powder and 1 t cornstarch per pound of wings. (We paid $3.79/pound, in case we're still tracking that.) I loaded the mixture into a shaker jar for ease of application, and applied it to the wings, which I had dispatched to a large bowl. Then I laid the wings out on racks set into foil-lined half-sheet pans and put them into the fridge to dry overnight:

 

 

I then hit the intertubes to see if my lemon-pepper wing recipe needed any refining. Lo and behold, lemon-pepper wings are not just a thing, they are very much an Atlanta thing. See this story for one version of the history: Atlanta Eats. It's a fun, if slightly risqué, story.

 

The wings will be cooked tomorrow as part of our Superbowl feast.

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, Dave the Cook said:

Due to various dental issues, we haven't had wings in a while. So I watched Kenji's video to refresh my memory of the procedure. I was a little taken aback when he started with separated wing parts, drums and flats (he is a flats guy, in case you're interested), not because I missed out on a bit of butchery, but because he left out the tips. Then I remembered that we're outliers in cooking whole wings, tips and all. We figure it's a dish that celebrates texture as much as flavor, and the crunch of a well-roasted wingtip (from a chicken, not a dress shoe) has few if any parallels. 

 

After recovering from my shock, I made up a "rub" per Kenji's formula: 1 t kosher salt, 1 t baking powder and 1 t cornstarch per pound of wings. (We paid $3.79/pound, in case we're still tracking that.) I loaded the mixture into a shaker jar for ease of application, and applied it to the wings, which I had dispatched to a large bowl. Then I laid the wings out on racks set into foil-lined half-sheet pans and put them into the fridge to dry overnight:

 

 

I then hit the intertubes to see if my lemon-pepper wing recipe needed any refining. Lo and behold, lemon-pepper wings are not just a thing, they are very much an Atlanta thing. See this story for one version of the history: Atlanta Eats. It's a fun, if slightly risqué, story.

 

The wings will be cooked tomorrow as part of our Superbowl feast.

Can't wait to see.  I love lemon pepper.

 

Also, I'm trying to control my envy that you have that much fridge space open for trays of wings.

[heidih]

I had no idea about the LP wings culture. Thanks I associate it with Lawry's which along with their seasoning slt was aways in the cupboad as a kid. Looking forward to your results.

[KennethT]

51 minutes ago, Shelby said:

These were made on the fly --I didn't plan on it until I realized I wanted to eat some of the egg rolls I made yesterday.  Sticky and crispy wings--Asian style.  You dry and toss the wings in baking powder, salt and pepper, bake for a bit at 250F and then turn up the heat and bake a bit more at 425F.  Then toss in a sauce made of the following:

 

1 tsp vegetable oil

▢ pinch of salt and pepper

▢ 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger - peeled and minced

▢ 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

▢ 2 tbsp honey

▢ 4 tbsp brown sugar

▢ 5 tbsp dark soy sauce

▢ 1 tsp lemon grass paste

▢ 2 cloves garlic - peeled and minced

 

I didn't have the lemon grass paste so I omitted.  Also omitted the brown sugar as I felt the honey was enough.  Also changed the sweet chili sauce to a spicy sauce that Ronnie's brother and his wife made.  Other changes include not cooking the wings nearly as long as the recipe says.  I did mine in the CSO which is faster anyway....plus I only did a few wings.

 

I'd make this again for sure.  They weren't super crispy, but more so than ones I've made in the past.

 

 

This is a pretty good recipe and similar to what I use for my Singapore version - but I don't use brown sugar (it's not common in SE Asia) - instead I'd use maybe a teaspoon or two of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce).  And rather than mincing, I'd pound all the solids in a mortar/pestle.  I'd also eliminate the sweet chilli sauce (you already have tons of sugar in there from the honey, brown sugar or sweet soy sauce and dark soy sauce), so instead I'd just add some chilli paste (like a sambal oelek) or throw 1 prik chee faa (spur chilli) along with 1 Thai chilli if you want it hot.  Plus, I would definitely replace some of that dark soy sauce (you only need a little bit) with fish sauce - like a couple tablespoons.  This is basically my marinade for the wings - and then you can just squeeze a bit of lime on just before eating and dip into the chilli sauce that I wrote down in RecipEgullet.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

These were made on the fly --I didn't plan on it until I realized I wanted to eat some of the egg rolls I made yesterday.  Sticky and crispy wings--Asian style.  You dry and toss the wings in baking powder, salt and pepper, bake for a bit at 250F and then turn up the heat and bake a bit more at 425F.  Then toss in a sauce made of the following:

 

1 tsp vegetable oil

▢ pinch of salt and pepper

▢ 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger - peeled and minced

▢ 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

▢ 2 tbsp honey

▢ 4 tbsp brown sugar

▢ 5 tbsp dark soy sauce

▢ 1 tsp lemon grass paste

▢ 2 cloves garlic - peeled and minced

 

I didn't have the lemon grass paste so I omitted.  Also omitted the brown sugar as I felt the honey was enough.  Also changed the sweet chili sauce to a spicy sauce that Ronnie's brother and his wife made.  Other changes include not cooking the wings nearly as long as the recipe says.  I did mine in the CSO which is faster anyway....plus I only did a few wings.

 

I'd make this again for sure.  They weren't super crispy, but more so than ones I've made in the past.

 

oops - I forgot- if using as a marinade, I'd also blend a shallot or two in there...

[Kerala]

On 1/11/2022 at 6:27 PM, Duvel said:

So: 1 kg chicken wings (organic, 7€/kg), doused with 10 g salt & 10 g baking powder, refrigerated for 4 h. Half of the wings were left unadulterated (for the family), half was mixed with cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, vinegar and a pinch of pepper. 15 min on a rack at 250 oC convection, turned, then 25 min at 200 oC.🙄

Loosely inspired by this. I added a teaspoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt to a kilogram of wings and let that sit in the kitchen for an hour. Then I mixed in cumin, paprika, garlic powder, pepper and fenugreek (because I had some in my mortar). 220C in a fan-assisted oven for 40 minutes. In the past I've always used some kind of wet marinade, so this was quite different. The skin was quite crispy and the meat still quite moist, but I might leave the wings as one large piece, flat and drum undivided, next time. A work in progress.