eG Cook-Off #88: Wings

[Okanagancook]

Air fryer wings.  Nice and easy.

300 F for 24 minutes turning at half time.  Increase temp to 400 F and cook 6-8 minutes until brown.  This gets the fat rendered.

[KennethT]

Singapore wings redux....

Marinade:

 

 

 

 

 

Steamed on 250F super steam in CSO:

 

Chilled down and then broiled on each side for 2 minutes until done:

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by KennethT (log)

[heidih]

And???

[KennethT]

12 hours ago, heidih said:

And???

Sorry  - was this directed to me?  If so, they came out really good.  The the steaming rendered a lot of the fat.  And then chilling it down and letting them sit uncovered in the refrigerator really dried the skin pretty nicely - I think I may attempt a deep fry instead of broiling next time!

[kayb]

I made wings last night for the Super Bowl. Had ordered some aji amarillo paste, so tried the Peruvian wings again. I’m in love with that stuff! The whole chicken in the freezer may be destined for that treatment.

 

Am also thinking it might be really good on pork tenderloin…

[chileheadmike]

Nothing fancy Buffalo wings. Seasoned with Lawry's, and cayenne. I like to bread them in a mix of flour and corn starch.  Fried in the electric skillet. Tossed in a sauce of half Frank's and half El Yucateco for a little heat. 

 

 

[Dave the Cook]

One mild disappointment and one happy accident on Superbowl Sunday. 

 

I prepped the wings on Saturday, allowing for the full overnight treatment Kenji prescribes. Around 5 PM on Sunday afternoon, I turned the oven on and pulled the wings from the fridge. They got a heavy application of Penzey's Sunny Spain seasoning (basically salt-free lemon-pepper) mixed with a little granulated garlic. I roasted them as described in the above post while I made two dipping sauces, a lemon-pepper and a Valentina-based hot sauce. The wigs went on a platter, and the sauces were on the side.

 

The disappointment: although they tasted great and were quite tender, the wings were not very crispy. I don't know what explains this, except 1) we've rarely let wings rest overnight; 2) this is the first time we've included cornstarch. I don't know that either one of these things led to lack of crispness. But because they sat all night, the salt was able to fully penetrate the flesh, which accounts for the tenderness and the better-than average flavor.

 

The happy accident: the lemon-pepper sauce, which I invented on the fly, was great. It was so good that we're having the remainder of it on grilled salmon tonight. I didn't get photos of the plattered wings (or the sauces, but I admit that the lemon-pepper was not great to look at). As a consolation, here are couple of leftover wings about to be reheated for lunch:

 

 

Sauce recipes:

Lemon-pepper

5 T unsalted butter

0.7 g (scant 1/4 t) liquid soy lecithin

3 T Penzey’s Sunny Spain seasoning mix

5 t honey

2 t fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon fine salt, or more, to taste 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until it starts to bubble. Whisk in the lecithin and remove from the heat. Wait 5 minutes, then add the Sunny Spain and honey. Swirl it around to infuse the citrus and spice. Stir in the lemon juice and taste for salt, adjusting as necessary. Check back in 20 minutes. The sauce may have gelled up. Just whisk it again.

 

Valentina wing sauce

1/3 C Valentina

1 T chipotle puree

3 T honey

Mix it all together.

 

[Kerala]

Just getting lunch on the table at the weekend. Honey, soy sauce, olive oil, pepper, mustard powder then into the oven at 200C for half an hour or so. Tasty, moist, but none of that crispness we've been celebrating on this thread.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Kerala (log)

[Owtahear]

Straight up Buffalo style hot wings

 

I make my own hot sauce from garden peppers.     I am fanatical about getting it right.   As I am getting the wings the proper crispiness.

 

Home made blue cheese dressing.  

[Owtahear]

  I am not into a lot of these goofy flavors.  But I love La Zi Ri ( Chongking Chicken) and figured that this would translate well to wings.

[Owtahear]

Okay......I am a wing fiend.  I have to admit.  I went to college in the 80's not too far from Buffalo.    So I discovered "Buffalo" wings well before the world made them popular.

 

I am completely old school, I don't need all of those 500 different flavors.   I prefer the following:

1) Your basic buffalo sauce of hot sauce/butter/vinegar in some combination.

2) I do like Asian flavors fish sauce/sweet/spice

3) Like a garlic butter/chimichurri combo

4) season salt.

5) Bar B Que sauce only if they are grilled or smoked.

 

My main problem with wings are...they have become WAY TOO POPULAR and once the masses get involved...well you all know the rest.

 

Secondly, the wings have become way too large!!!      I hate large wings.  They don't cook, sauce or eat right.      If you want chicken tenders (alot of meat) then order friggin chicken tenders.    And chicken tenders are not "boneless wings".

 

I love duck wings and turkey wings also.  I just love poultry skin and the biggest crime against wingdom is the lack of crispy skin.

 

Fried is still the best.   You cannot beat deep fried.   Though I have marinated in baking powder and par baked, then finish bake at a higher temperature that does a nice job.   But still, fried wings are the best.  But air fried, baked, grilled are good too.

 

Again, big wings suck and often leads to sloppy skin.  Sloppy skin is greasy and just not fun or good to eat.  

 

I am a perfectionist when it comes to my buffalo sauce.    I now make my own hot sauce.  I make both the "Franks" style of peppers/vinegar and salt and also a fermented version more like tabasco.    To make the wing sauce, I like to blend, add some garlic, maybe a touch of honey to balance, and some splash of Worcestershire or Fish sauce for some umami.   I do like it hot, but not insane that you can't taste.   And home made ranch or bleu cheese is so easy it is a no brainer accompaniment.

 

Someday I will eventually perfect my wing sauce.   It is an never ending quest.

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, Owtahear said:

Someday I will eventually perfect my wing sauce.   It is an never ending quest.

When you do, I hope you'll post it on RecipeGullet, or here in this topic!

[Shelby]

25 minutes ago, Smithy said:

When you do, I hope you'll post it on RecipeGullet, or here in this topic!

Ditto this.  I love Frank's and would like to make my own.

[ElsieD]

 

@Shelby  Here's a hot sauce you might like.  John uses it on chicken wings.  I make it in my Thermomix but you should be able to do it on the stove.  The fimes are quite strong.  If you make it, I suggest you do it outside.

 

 

 

 

TMX Scotch Bonnet Sauce

 

WARNING THIS IS DEADLY HOT..  BE CAREFUL OPENING THE THERMOMIX BECAUSE THE FUMES ARE VERY STRONG

SPILLING SAUCE CAN ALSO CAUSE INJURY TO EYES AND SKIN

 

Please wear rubber gloves when making this.

 

600 gr tomatoes, in pieces

200 gr scotch bonnet peppers, with seeds and skin

400 ml white vinegar

4TBS cane sugar

2 ts sea salt

 

 

Put all ingredients in the bowl, speed 2 VAROMA, 10 minutes

Then bring temp down to 100 for 10 minutes

 

Next gradually speed up the blender up to 10 for 1 minute

 

Pass through a sieve and store in bottles.

 

This quantity makes about 1 liter

 

It keeps in the fridge for ages..  

[heidih]

@Owtahear would ove yiur Ranch drssing recioe. One place near me imakes ther ow tyhat us outstanding but w/ Covid I'd like to give a proven version a try.

[Kerala]

On 2/15/2022 at 2:56 PM, chileheadmike said:

Nothing fancy Buffalo wings. Seasoned with Lawry's, and cayenne. I like to bread them in a mix of flour and corn starch.  Fried in the electric skillet. Tossed in a sauce of half Frank's and half El Yucateco for a little heat. 

 

 

I like the look of these. When you say "fried in the electric skillet," could you clarify that, please? Dry skillet/skillet smeared with oil/shallow fried/fried in a good half inch of oil? Something else? This looks like it gets the crispness plus that fried carbohydrate goodness the whole world loves.

[gfweb]

re wing size...Bell and Evans markets nice little wings

[chileheadmike]

12 hours ago, Kerala said:

I like the look of these. When you say "fried in the electric skillet," could you clarify that, please? Dry skillet/skillet smeared with oil/shallow fried/fried in a good half inch of oil? Something else? This looks like it gets the crispness plus that fried carbohydrate goodness the whole world loves.

 

I season with Lawry's and pepper then toss in a mixture of half flour and half corn starch. I shallow fry in a little bit of oil in an electric skillet. Then toss in Franks and El Yucateco .

 

I forgot to include that I add a little bit of freshly cracked coarse ground pepper as well.  There's a dive bar in KC called The Peanut that does this. They do have some great wings. 

[Owtahear]

On 3/19/2022 at 7:30 PM, heidih said:

@Owtahear would ove yiur Ranch drssing recioe. One place near me imakes ther ow tyhat us outstanding but w/ Covid I'd like to give a proven version a try.

I am terrible with recipes because I often use them as guidelines then adjust to taste and feel on the fly.   But this makes an outstanding dressing.  I first made this as an accompaniment to barbecued carrots from the Publican cook book by Paul Kahan and it works so well with wings.

 

Equal parts of Mayo, Sour Cream and Blue Cheese.      So say 1/2 cup of each.

Garlic Powder, dill, parsley, fresh grd black pepper and salt (tsp each tbsp of salt)

Some acid either lemon juice or red wine vinegar.  

And then I balance it out to the consistency I like with buttermilk.   

 

Oh...and a splash or two of fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce because you can never have enough Unami.

 

Let it sit for a few hours.

 

Great with wings....fabulous with like a wedge salad.

[Owtahear]

On 3/20/2022 at 12:21 AM, gfweb said:

re wing size...Bell and Evans markets nice little wings

Yes.  They have a good size.  Whole Foods wings also seem to be a decent size.  

[Shelby]

Thawed out the rest of the domestic duck wings yesterday.  Sounded good to eat while watching basketball.

 

I looked at quite a few recipes online.  Most all of them said to simmer the wings for a good couple of hours in a broth.  I didn't want to mess with that, so I pressure cooked them for 10 mins. BTW, these had been brined in salt water.  Then I made a sauce with soy, hoisin, oyster sauce, fish sauce, honey and ketchup (don't judge the ketchup...it was good in there lol) oh and a dollop of really spicy pepper sauce that my BIL gave us.  I put the wings in the sauce and broiled until they looked nice and done.  

 

These were good.  Next time I'd do them for maybe 15 mins in the pressure cooker.  But maybe not...they were certainly edible and good to gnaw on.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

6 minutes ago, Shelby said:

(don't judge the ketchup.

Hey, the Chinese use ketchup it a lot of their sauces. It's completely authentic. Nothing at all wrong with that.

One of the best catsups that I can get here in Costa Rica is from China. The label is totally Chinese.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

Thawed out the rest of the domestic duck wings yesterday.  Sounded good to eat while watching basketball.

 

I looked at quite a few recipes online.  Most all of them said to simmer the wings for a good couple of hours in a broth.  I didn't want to mess with that, so I pressure cooked them for 10 mins. BTW, these had been brined in salt water.  Then I made a sauce with soy, hoisin, oyster sauce, fish sauce, honey and ketchup (don't judge the ketchup...it was good in there lol) oh and a dollop of really spicy pepper sauce that my BIL gave us.  I put the wings in the sauce and broiled until they looked nice and done.  

 

These were good.  Next time I'd do them for maybe 15 mins in the pressure cooker.  But maybe not...they were certainly edible and good to gnaw on.

 

 

 

Did you just throw that sauce together or do you have a recipe you'd like to share?  BTW, in your honour I picked Kansas to win.  If they do, I win the pool!

[Shelby]

9 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Did you just throw that sauce together or do you have a recipe you'd like to share?  BTW, in your honour I picked Kansas to win.  If they do, I win the pool!

Woooo HOOOOO!!!  Go KU and Go Elsie!!  I miss playing in pools like that.  

 

I loosely went off of this recipe

 

1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted 

▢ 2 tbsp lemon juice

▢ 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine, sub Mirin, dry sherry)

▢ 2 tbsp soy sauce , light or all purpose

▢ 2 tbsp brown sugar or honey

▢ 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce

▢ 1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

▢ 1/4 cup ketchup or Aussie tomato sauce

▢ 1 tbsp chilli garlic sauce or sambal oelek (adjust spiciness to taste)

▢ 4 cloves garlic , minced

▢ 1 tbsp ginger , finely grated

▢ 1/2 tsp five spice powder

[KennethT]

I made the Singapore Hawker wings again - but this time, deep fried them....  this was definitely the winner!!!

 

 

These were marinated for 24 hours as above, then steamed for about 40 minutes (probably could have been 30), then put on a rack and dried in the refrigerator overnight (actually about 24 hours, but overnight would have been more than fine).  Then deep fried in peanut oil at about 375-400F from room temp.  The skin came out super crispy and the meat on the flats was nice and succulent.  I thought the upper arms were a little dry - maybe those only need to be steamed for 10-15 minutes?  And since they were nice and dry, I had no oil explosions whatsoever even though I was armed with my splatter screen in one hand just in case!

 

 

Totally worth the effort!