I love chicken wings of almost any kind. Fried, baked, smoked, grilled, crockpot, pressure fried, breaded/battered, sauced, dry-rubbed. My preference is probably fried hard with very spicy sauce. It doesn’t need to be the traditional butter based Buffalo sauce but I like that, too. I quite like Wing Stop with the Atomic sauce.
Exceptions are too-sweet sauces. Some of the new wave of Korean wings walk that too sweet line. Teriyaki and a lot of BBQ sauces are probably going to be too sweet. I’ll likely have a couple wings anyway.
Another one is that I also have a pretty strong preference for the wings to be cut into flats and drums with the tips discarded. All three sections together is just a messy annoyance that makes the cook look lazy. You can’t really eat them unless pulled apart and that needs two hands.
Anyone calling breaded wet chicken nuggets ‘boneless wings’ can pretty much go to hell.
I cook wings and cutting wings into their parts is a pain in the ass but I do it because, well, it’s true-- drumstickettes and pull-aparts are better than the whole thing together. Plus, the tips make great, glutinous stock. However, batter-dipped wings work best if you take the whole wing, tuck the tip under the drumstick part to form a classic wing triangle and dip that in the batter— well then, that’s a good figgin’ wing right there.
I’m always up for traditional Buffalo-style, though hotter than Franks but not “send me to the hospital” hot, with a bleu cheese sauce and plenty of carrots and celery. Lightly sweet margaritas on the rocks to wash them down. Either a Caesar salad, grilled corn on the cob, or some curly fries to round things out.
At home, however, I don’t want to fry them, so I roast them. If I can swing it, space- and time-wise, I’ll lightly salt them early and put them on a rack in a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Put them in a fridge uncovered to really dry out the skin. When it is time to start cooking, into a 200° convection oven. When they get to about 170°, pull them out, set the rack closest to broiler, and finish both sides under the broiler. For a sauce, I like equal parts balsamic vinegar and soy sauce with brown sugar, grated ginger, and crushed garlic. Combine, then reduce by half to two-thirds, until syrupy. Toss wings with sauce and sesame seeds.
In the summer when I don’t want the oven running, I’ll do similar on the grill. I have whiskey barrel oak chips and I’ll kiss them with some smoke (not too much - very easy to oversmoke chicken) as I cook them low and slow (<225°), then get the coal side of the grill screaming hot, oil the grates very well, and finish with a sear. Buffalo sauce or the balsamic-soy sauce are my go-to sauces, though I’ve toyed with several others to mix things up.
Sometimes when I’m really lazy, or I’m cooking for a crowd, I’ll break the number 3 rule of wings and leave the flats and drumettes attached. So far, the food police have not caught me when I’ve done this.
Yes, I cannot imagine eating wings without sports, except of course when we ate them at the school during a teacher lunch pot luck buffet.
“Flats” are wings. Drummies are not wings. The only reason drummies are included is that there simply aren’t enough wings created by the chicken-processing industry to satisfy everyone’s cravings for WINGS. No one puts “Buffalo Drummies” on their menu. :eek:
Personally, I prefer what used to be more desired in Rochester back in the day: a BBQ half-chicken slathered in hot sauce, served with macaroni salad. But over the years, I’ve gotten quite happy to eat good wings. Mild sauce is fine for me, and I absolutely adore a good garlic-parmesan sauce.
You mean the “drumettes.” For me, I dunno. It’s something visceral about sucking the meat out from in between the two bones and also that meat seems a bit moister and sweeter and more flavorful to me, but that might just be in my head. Plus, like I said above, I love chicken skin, and there’s a ratio of meat to skin that is more tilted towards skin than in the drumette, so I like that.
I don’t know what is meant by this (though perhaps I’m getting whooshed). The drumette, of course, is part of the wing. (Clearly, “drumette” is what was meant by “drumstick” there.) It’s a bit like saying the humerus is not part of the arm and only part containing the ulna and radius is.
And, yes, I have seen places that specifically sell only the drummette part of the wing, though I don’t immediately remember where.
Naked. No sauce, no breading, but fried crispy good. Sauce on side, buffalo with some heat, what should properly called medium but in most places upon ordering one would need to say hot. And with blue cheese. 2 bone sections preferred but not asked for.
Never ever boneless wings, never boneless wings. The taste of the wings, with the skin and the meat on the bone is what makes a wing a wing.
I used to buy wing flats and drums at Whole (paycheck) Foods. Then Amazon bought the chain, and I haven’t been back. Their wings were extremely good, IMO.
Cooking them was a messy pain, but worth it.
Marinate in soy sauce mixed half/half with a good yellow mustard. Add white, red, black, and cayenne pepper, garlic powder, turmeric, ground sage, marjoram, and whatever other spices you care to use. Use enough marinade to cover them, and leave them soaking in the fridge at least overnight. Stir them once in a while. Also pierce the skin before putting them in the marinade.
Use a deep fat fryer (mine is a Fry Daddy) with three pounds of good lard(!)–not vegetable oil–set at 190 degC (375 degF). Cook for 15-20 minutes, drain, and place on paper towels. If you want sauce, or dressing, or something, that’s on you. I do not bread my wings. The wings will appear blackened, owing to the soy sauce.
I also prefer leaf lard rather than the stuff Hormel/Armour and the like sell. Of course leaf lard is pricey, but I can cook about 5 pounds of wings in 3 pounds of lard. I have found no good way to strain or clean the fat.
Looks like a tasty recipe. Do you live anywhere close?
When I was in the restaurant world, we would strain the grease with what was like a huge Melitta coffee filter. A pain in the ass, but it worked to give more life to the lard.
I remember the good old days when you could get wings on sale for 29 cents/pound (about 1/4 the cost of a drumstick) because no one wanted them. Then the Buffalo thing happened. Damn all buffaloes.
I used to season my wings and put them in a hot hot hot oven (500 or so) for 5 minutes on each side. Now I do them the same way on the grill…easier cleanup, and my best local bbq place does them that way.
Separate the wings with a knife; lay out the flats and drumettes on a sheet of foil; wing tips go into a saucepan of water to make a little chicken stock. Season the good parts with Slap Ya Mama or some other spicy spice mix.
Cook on a hot grill for 5 minutes on each side, or until crispy. Meanwhile, heat a quarter cup of Frank’s hot sauce in a large pan with a tablespoon of butter (a tablespoon is plenty. How much extra grease do you really need? They’re CHICKEN WINGS, for chrissake).
Turn sauce to low heat, add cooked wings, and toss. Keep warm until ready to serve.
I like blue cheese dressing, but lately have been considering the pleasures of ranch.
I might only eat them once a year nowadays, but I like 'em “classic”, I guess…
Mix of drumettes and flats (normal sized pieces, not the “jumbo” ones some restaurants seem to serve) fried until the skin is nice and crispy, tossed with a hot-but-not-ridiculously-so Buffalo-style sauce…carrot/celery/blue cheese dressing on the side, along with ice cold beer and plenty of napkins.