Making Chicken Wings
Background
Restaurant-bought wings are pricey. Even fast-food bought wings, which can be miserably made some times—I once bought advertised Honey BBQ Chicken Wings which were great the first time, but the second time looked like plain wings with barbeque sauce drizzled over them–were about $20 for 16 wings. I don’t mind the price, gratefully, but I do mind consistent quality and want to avoide letdowns, so I chose to learn how to make wings. I also need to fill the gap caused by the lack of NFL and College Football during the offseason, so this is a tasty project which serves that purpose as well.
First Attempt
I made my first batch of chicken wings on Saturday, February 11, 2023. They were edible and the sauce was delicious. But they were at most a 5/10. I follow some recipe I found online after a google search which went something like:
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Baste oil on both sides of the wings and season with salt and pepper
- Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the wings after 10 minutes
- Heat the oven to 425°F
- Baste on the sauce and bake for 7 minutes then flip. Repeat a few times.
- Broil (500°F) for 5-10 minutes.
My sauce was made of Ray’s sugar-free BBQ sauce, mustard, soy sauce, and honey.
I did not have a basting brush and was using a spoon to lather on the sauce. It did not work well. Also, the meat did not fall off the bones and it took more effort than worthwhile to eat them.
Second Attempt
I was hungrier this time I suppose because I chose to make honey bbq drumsticks instead of wings. This time I got a silicone basting brush at Safeway. I modified my approach slightly:
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Actually baste this time and season the drumsticks
- Bake on one side for 15 minutes, flip and bake for another 15 minutes
- Remove the drumsticks and heat the oven to 425°F
- Repeat four times, twice on each side: baste on sauce, bake for 7 minutes, remove and flip.
- Add coconut flour to the sauce (note to self: use rice flour instead)
- Repeat two times, once on each side: baste on sauce/flour mix (gravy?), bake for 7 minutes and flip.
- Broil (500°F) for 5 minutes.
Using the basting brush allowed for a more even distribution of sauce on the drumsticks. The skin still wasn’t crispy enough, although the meat was (more) easily coming off the bones and was juicy + delicious.
When I make it again, probably next weekend, I’ll switch back to chicken wings and find a new recipe which emphasizes the cripsiness of the wings.
