Hot Wings, or Not Wings, as Hot as You Like

Hot WingZ Ready To Eat!

Buffalo Wings, Hot Wingz, Deep-Fried Wings, Baked Wings, Pan-Fried Wings -- I like 'em. I like 'em cooked lots of different ways, but while I like the crisp outside, I do not like a crisp inside. The inside I want juicy and tender. Too often I get crispy critters all the way through. What to do?

The trick is to slow-cook for about and hour and then fast-cook for the brief period of time required to crisp up the skin. And I like a sweet wing, so I make them with honey, but I do think the classic "Buffalo Wing" sauce has a good idea mixing Hot Sauce with Butter, so I do that, too. But I go further yet, and I add Ancho and Chipotle Chile Powder, as well as Paprika.

I'm not big on the classic Buffalo style celery and blue cheese, 'cause I don't think the wings need anything else but the Wings and the Sauce.

Near us, we can get a 10 lb bag of frozen Tyson wings for $20 at our local BJ's, and they're good for this, since they are big, and big helps keep the wings tender, and of course, there's more to eat!

Ted's Hot WingZ:

3-1/2 lbs of Chicken Wings, jointed, tips reserved for stock!
1 cup Clover Honey
1/4 lb / 1 stick Salted Butter
4 TBS Ancho Chile Powder
1 TBS Chipotle Chile Powder
2 TBS Fresh (not 4 year old) Sweet Paprika
Hot Sauce of choice, optional (I like mine -- see www.srfreshhotsauce.com)
Salt
Pepper

Melt the butter and mix with the honey and Chile Powders, and add Hot Sauce to taste.

Preheat the oven to 275 DEG, and lay out the wings on the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet or a broiler pan. Salt and Pepper the top side to taste. Bake for 1 hour. Remove and turn the wings.

Raise the temperature of the oven to 400 DEG with convection or 450 without and put the wings back in the oven until the skin starts to brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Turn the wings again, and brown for an additional 5 minutes or time required.

Remove pan and pour Honey Mixture all over wings, taking care to turn wings in sauce to cover.

Replace in oven until Honey Mixture begins to bubble and thicken, and wings are a good, medium brown.

Remove from oven, let cool a bit, and pour remaining sauce over wings in serving bowl.

Enjoy.

~Ted


Photo Credit: me