Years of Trail and Error. I love chicken wings, in particular I love buffalo wings. I have been working on my chicken wing recipe for about 25 years. I have culled inspiration from the likes of Alton Brown, Interstate BBQ in Memphis, Bubbalou’s Bodacious BBQ in Central Florida, and Food Network. My process, sauce, seasonings, preparation and blue cheese dipping sauce are brought together after many years of taking an inspiring recipe and working on it for the home kitchen with common ingredients.
The first undertaking was the sauce. Once I had the correct mix of ingredients, I made very little changes. The Process of the cook is what has changed many times over the years and I settled for a twice fry method that cannot be matched. I have been told from house guests that my wings are the absolute best they have had and I should open a restaurant with this recipe. That’s all fine and good, but I believe food and in particular taste can be a very subjective thing. Cooking buffalo wings is a fairly simple process but cooking buffalo wings that a vast majority of people that love them, can be a challenge.
Today I publish the soup to nuts procedure for the best chicken wings that you could possibly come up, bar none. What follows are the ingredient lists for the various sauces and seasonings….
Sauce:
4 TB salted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot
2 TB brown sugar
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch fresh cracked black pepper
Mike’s Wing Sprinkle:
5 TB kosher salt
3 TB paprika
1 1/2 TB white sugar
1/2 TB onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce:
1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
1 TB buttermilk
1/3 cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. garlic, minced salt and pepper
The Chicken
Start with fresh chicken wings, not frozen. Frozen poultry retains moisture, which produces soggy, overcooked fried food. All too often, the skin becomes rubbery instead of crisp. The reason? The skin is filled with water, which steams the bird instead of frying it in the hot oil. The fix isn’t quick, but it is easy. Coating the wings with kosher salt overnight draws out some of this moisture.
The Frying
Traditionally, wings are fried once for several minutes at 365 degrees F. But this can result in wings that either aren’t well crisped outside, or aren’t nicely cooked inside. To fix this, fry the chicken twice. With this approach, the wings take an oil bath for several minutes at 300 degrees F. The wings then are removed from the oil and the heat is increased to 375. The wings then go back into the oil, during which they are quickly crisped.
The Procedure
Place the chicken in a gallon size ziplock bag, then shake with 2 TB Lemon Pepper. Toss well to coat. Let wings marinate in the lemon pepper for 20 to 30 minutes. This will also allow wings to come closer to room temp. Add 1/4 cup cornstarch to bag with wings and toss to coat.
In a small pot, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and bring to a simmer on a low heat, hold until ready for use. Set oil in fryer to 300 degrees F
Divide the chicken into batches. One batch at a time, fry for 8 minutes, transferring each to a baking sheet with a wire rack when done. Once all the chicken is done, increase the heat to 375 degrees F. Again working in batches, fry the chicken for 3 minutes, then transfer back to cooling rack and season with Mike’s Wing Sprinkle. Transfer wings to a large bowl and spoon 2 to 3 TB of sauce over . Toss to thoroughly coat all the wings.
Enjoy