Week of Wings – Day 5 – Wings 101

Tips for making great hot wings at home.

We use a 3 step process:
1. bake the wings
2. deep fry the wings
3. take ’em swimming in the sauce

We cut the wings into flaps and drummies, discarding the tip (or freezing them to make chicken stock later), then dry them thoroughly with paper towels. It’s important to dry them thoroughly before baking. This helps prevent the skin from shrinking up.

Season the wings with salt and pepper or your favorite spices like Tony Chatchere’s or Todd’s Dirt or a jerk seasoning (Captain Thom’s Jerk Seasoning), and stick in the fridge to air dry uncovered for an hour or so – even overnight is ok. If you’re using a wing sauce with a lot of salt, bake them plain.

Bring the wings to room temp.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Note: If you’ve ever baked wings on a baking sheet, and sprayed it with oil, or coated them with oil to keep them from sticking, you know you have a sticky mess to clean up. USE PARCHMENT PAPER (no oil needed) and you and your dishwasher will be happier. We promise!

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove the wings from the baking sheet and let them “dry out” on a platter for at least 10 minutes to absorb any excess moisture (water & fat).

Fry in small batches, 5-8 wings at a time. We fry our wings in our Le Creuset Dutch Oven.

We used to use a FryDaddy deep-fryer, but it doesn’t hold the heat as well as a good enameled cast iron Dutch oven does. If all you have is a FryDaddy or other electric fryer, just allow time between batches for it to heat back up, because each time you place food in those fryers, the oil temp drops.

After deep-frying, place briefly on paper towels to absorb the excess oil, then toss them in your favorite wing sauce while they’re still hot. Let them sit a minute to soak up the sauce and regain their crispiness, and you’re ready to enjoy perfectly cooked wings!

Serve with celery sticks and our easy to make blue cheese dip. For a new and different twist, try some cucumber spears along with your favorite ranch or blue cheese dip. NOM!