Chicken Wing Friday … Salt and Pepper Wings

I haven’t had a Chicken Wing Friday in a hot minute and with the Super Bowl upon us, its peak season. I’ve been thinking a lot about a salt & pepper crab dish I had a zillion years ago and thought that flavor combo would work well with chicken. Lord knows the price of crab these days is the equivalent of a new car, so chicken wings it is. 

So there’s salt, of course, and three kinds of pepper – black, white and to mix things up, Szechuan. Why have one pepper when you can do three? There’s a little five spice powder for something interesting and just a touch of cayenne for the slightest hint of heat and it’s all pretty nice. Super easy too – toss the wings in a spice mixture that includes baking powder and bake them. Admittedly, baking powder seems a bit strange and not particularly tasty but it really works well with a 30 minutes dry time and a high oven temp to get them nice and crispy without the mess of deep frying (thank you Cooks illustrated). I’m not a fan of the havoc frying wreaks in my house – the lingering smell, the greasy mess, the used oil to deal with. As much as I enjoy hot crispy fried food, it’s a lot better when someone else does it for me.

For game day or a regular ‘ol Friday night, these are great as is but a little chili crisp or even some peppercorn ranch on the side would be wonderful. They’ll be gone in no time – crunchy, flavorful, not really spicy but well-seasoned and utterly delicious. If you’re not sure what to serve Sunday, this is a certain crowd pleaser.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: EASY BREEZY Honestly, the thought of deep frying during a party stresses me out. Ugh. Forget about it. This recipe removes all that anxiety with an oven baked wing that is pretty dang close and very tasty. Who wants to worry about things like this while we’re waiting for the Rihanna halftime show anyway?

other chicken wing recipes: Kimchi Buffalo Wings, Sticky Northern Exposure Wings, Chili Crisp Wings, Sticky Spicy Sweet Chicken Wings, Tamarind Five Spice Chicken Wings, Miso Honey Butter Chicken Wings, Green Curry Chicken Wings

fourteen years ago: Khachapuri (cheesy Georgian bread) 

thirteen years ago: Double Chocolate Cookies, Marmalade Yogurt Cake, Fancy Valentine’s Day Cookies 

twelve years ago: Chocolate Churros, Mexican Hot Chocolate

eleven years ago: Chocolate Dulce de Leche Swirl Ice Cream, Double Chocolate Alfajores

ten years ago: Chocolate Pear Clafouti

nine years ago: Buckwheat Blini

eight years ago: From Scratch Rum Cake

seven years ago: Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

six years ago: Dark Chocolate Marshmallows

five years ago: West African Puff Puffs

four years ago: Piggy Coconut Buns for Chinese New Year

three years ago: Dirty Chai Cookies

two years ago: Oatmeal Date Cookies

last year: Small Batch Raspberry Rhubarb Jam

SALT & PEPPER CHICKEN WINGS

Servs 3-4 as a snack

2 pounds chicken wings

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1 teaspoon finely ground white pepper

2 teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns, finely ground

½ teaspoon five spice powder

¼ – ½ teaspoon ground cayenne

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

for garnish – chopped cilantro or scallions

1. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil and set a wire rack inside. 
2. If you have whole wings, cut into drumettes and flats. Discard the wingtips or freeze for stock.
3. Pat the wings dry with paper towels, removing as much moisture as possible. Set aside.  
4. In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, grind the Szechuan peppercorns as finely as possible.
5. In a small bowl, combine the baking powder, salt, black and white peppers, ground Szechuan peppercorns, five spice, cayenne, garlic powder and sugar, whisking well to combine.
6. Add the dry wings to a large bowl and toss with the oil to evenly coat.
7. Sprinkle the pepper mixture over and toss to thoroughly coat.
8. Arrange the wings on the rack, leaving about ½” between each wing and let rest at room temperature, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
9. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
10. Bake for 30 minutes; flip and continue to cook until crisp and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes longer.
11. Remove from the oven, place on a platter, garnish with the chopped cilantro or scallions. Serve hot with your favorite dipping sauce.

Read Full Post »

back to Chicken Wing Fridays … Chili Crisp Chicken Wings

Have you discovered chili crisp yet? That crunchy, spicy, umami bomb of a Sichuan condiment everyone has been talking about for the last year or so? Oh my friends, let me tell you. Whoa. Get on it. It started with Laoganma’s brand, found in Asian markets, and branched out into homemade recipes and variations. I even posted a recipe in early 2019 and have made it numerous times since. Its dried chili based and spicy, but not overly so, and packed with crunchy shallots, garlic and peanuts, a ton of ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and umami rich mushroom powder and yes, msg. Let me tell you, that msg is key. I’ve tried versions without, and they are not nearly as good. They just aren’t. Embrace the msg.

Read Full Post »

Chicken Wing Friday … Sticky Northern Exposure Wings

A few months ago, suffering from a terrible bout of jetlag, I decided to sort and rearrange my cookbook collection. I purposely avoided counting them (some things just don’t need to be known) but let’s just say I have a lot. In the course of sorting, I found quite a few I haven’t cracked in years and were happy reintroductions, others left me perplexed as to why I had them and yet others made me laugh out loud. One of the later was The Northern Exposure Cookbook: A Community Cookbook From the Heart of the Alaskan Riviera. I’m sure it was a gift though I don’t recall from who. I loved that 90’s show about small town Cicely, Alaska and all the characters that lived there. Plus DJ Chris Stevens was hot. (When has John Corbett not been hot?) While the DVDs are readily available, the show doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere. That’s a shame.

Read Full Post »

game on … Tamarind Five Spice Chicken Wings

I haven’t done a Chicken Wing Friday in a while and with football season starting, I think its time. Chicken wings and football are a natural pairing. The only thing that would make it better is a cold beer. Today’s wings are sticky and sweet, tart and tangy and utterly messy. They’re perfect. And a cold beer only makes them better.

Read Full Post »

chicken wing Friday … Kimchi Buffalo Chicken Wings

I am an unabashed condiment queen. It used to be that the extent of most of America’s condiment repertoire was the trinity of ketchup-mustard-relish with maybe mayonnaise and horseradish thrown in for good measure. But go take a look at the inside of your refrigerator door right now. Go ahead. I’ll wait. I bet you have a much wider variety than that. My refrigerator door is so packed with jars and bottles it actually groans in protest every time I open it. Sure, I have the basics but also: ginger paste, oyster sauce, two kinds of thai curry pastes, a few kinds of nut butters, fish sauce, kimchi, teriyaki, hoisin, sriracha, sambal, tubes of tomato and anchovy pastes, chutneys, key lime juice and various hot sauces. It’s a very Asian influenced assortment and reflects my eating/cooking style rather accurately. This doesn’t even take into consideration the large tub full of jars of pickles, jams and even more chutneys that lives on one of the shelves. And let’s not discuss the tower of miso containers residing in one corner. I have a lot of condiment type things. An ungodly amount.

Read Full Post »

chicken wing Friday … Green Curry Chicken Wings

It’s Chicken Wing Friday! Time for something new though looking back on my last two chicken wing posts, they’ve been Asian of some sort. Chinese, Japanese and now Thai. Huh. It makes sense, as these are flavors that I love, and they do say to cook what you love. One of these days I’ll choose a different part of the world for inspiration but for now, this is what you get. This idea sort of came together over the last two weeks. You see, it’s been a bit crazy in Chicago with a certain sports team. Consequently, I’ve spent a lot of time in bars eating some pretty mediocre bar food and some especially forgettable chicken wings. Mediocre hot wing after mediocre hot wing, I longed for something different, something to mix it up. Then I came home from a particularly stressful game, opened my refrigerator and a tub of green curry paste with a fondness for flinging itself off the shelf with great force made its presence known. Ok, I got the message. A green curry chicken wing was in the works. Hot wings with a Thai twist.

Read Full Post »

chicken wing friday … Miso Honey Butter Chicken Wings

What do you do with miso? It seems like every recipe uses a teaspoon and you’re left with this big container to languish in your fridge for months. Years. I am in a unique position in that I have 3 kinds of miso languishing in my fridge right now. Three kinds! White, red and brown, in fat stubby containers that get pushed here and there, slowly accumulating a questionable amount of refrigerator debris (aka “crud”) on the lids. It’s a wonder I don’t have yellow miso too. Not sure how I missed out on that one. These containers are always in the way yet I hesitate to throw them out. Why? I think that someday I’ll find a use for them. It’s a curse.

Read Full Post »