Better for You Buffalo Wings.

I have had a mad craving for Buffalo style chicken wings for a while now. I think it's because I went out to eat at this wonderful Asian Fusion place in Appleton, Gingerootz and it was fantastic. I ordered the Tangerine Chicken, and while it was totally delicious, it looked like Buffalo bites, but didn't taste like it.

So, I read around on how to make Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings a few days ago. In an oven! Because I am not allowed to buy a deep fryer, by my own choice as I will proceed to deep fry everything. Now, of course you can still deep fry things on the stove top, but it is messy and annoying and I Just Know I Shouldn't

ANYWHO, information gathering determined the enemy of oven crispiness: moisture. I definitely used the first steps of this recipe and will probably continue to navigate this blog more, simply because I like her writing style. It's funny and self-effacing. Anyone who writes about eating too many wings at a frat party to the point of illness, and still loves wings is Knowing Thyself, for sure. You should most definitely read about her boiling the chicken bits, and her own shock at the thought too.

The wings don't need to be boiling to fully cooked, just enough to render some of the fat out. Parboiling takes out the excess blubber that can make the chicken soggy, in short. It's gross too, it rises to the top all foamy, but it is oddly satisfying to watch it fluff up and toss it away.

I did not stop there on my quest to crisp my wings to crispiest though. While I did boil the wingettes for about 10 minutes or so, I also dredged them in a flour mixture after DRYING THEM. "Moisture is the enemy of crisp!"  Let that flour harden in the fridge for at least on hour, then bake. I left mine in for several hours, as I made these in advance, and some recipes suggested even leaving it in over night. I have not had any problems, but you do you.

Now, the chicken used with this was already separated into drummetes and wingettes, but that recipe above has a lovely video showing you how to cut them quickly if you are working with an entire wing.

Naturally, this is a combination of things I LIKE and adjusted for, but it was made by searching around the web. I like spice and garlic, so maybe you want to turn it down.

I am just going to dive right in at this point, so here goes:



Wings:
2-3 lbs wing pieces
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic
1 cup of flour
salt and pepper

Sauce:
1/2 cup (one stick) of butter
however much Frank's (or whatever pepper sauce) you can handle. I went 50/50.

Now, that sauce amount would be for an entire batch to coat all your wings, so I cut that in half.  I made half of the batch tossing them in Jack Daniels barbeque sauce too. The sauce is the fun part, you can make it however you want, but I prefer artery clogging Buffalo style.

So, salt your water heavily like you are boiling pasta and let the water heat to a roiling boil before dropping the wingettes in. Cover and let sit for 7-10 minutes. I don't know, I just did dishes or something until fluffy fat starting appearing.

I removed the pieces with tongs and let them sit on a mountain of paper towels while I put the flour, cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper in a gallon zip lock bag. I went through and individually patted each piece dry before dropping them in flour. Then, shake til evenly coated.

Line a baking sheet or two with non stick foil, place the wings on them, and top with plastic wrap. Pop them in the fridge for at least an hour.

When ever you decide to cook them, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

If using Buffalo mixture, prepare it by melting butter in a sauce pan or even the microwave, mixing in the pepper sauce. Dunk the wings in, toss them in another sauce, whatevs. Return them to the baking sheet with space for ventilation (not touching.)

Cook time can be anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on the size on your wings. FLIP Halfway through to get an even cooking/crisping. I just use a meat thermometer to safe temp (165) and poke at the edges to make sure it was crispy. Test for temp/pink meat on the inside on your thickest piece, seeing as that will take the longest to cook. I used small pieces, and at 25 minutes they were almost too done, but sill tasty.

Eat them up right away. Preferably with blue cheese or ranch, and somewhere to sit and digest this for a while.