Hot, Sweet, Salty and Sticky Chicken Wings

Just like all young men who have attended American universities, I ate hundreds, if not thousands of chicken wings. The deliciousness of Frank’s hot sauce mixed with vinegar and butter tossed with the burning flesh of deep fried chicken wings is a taste like no other. It’s distinctly American and if it ain’t done right, it ain’t a buffalo wing. Chicken wings in Israel are an ubiquitous menu item these days. They are often described as “buffalo wings” though they are as far from any buffalo wing I have ever tasted. They are rarely fried and American hot sauce is never used. Instead they are drenched with Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce. This is crime against both Buffalo and Thailand. I wouldn’t dare to try to replicate authentic Buffalo wings for several reasons. The most important being that I’m not so into deep frying since I’m no longer twenty one (it was a very good year) and my metabolism isn’t what it once was. These “oven fried” wings are hot, sweet, salty and sticky and are about as foreign to Buffalo as Guam.

Crank up your oven to about 180 degrees Celsius (about 355 degrees Fahrenheit). Separate the drums and flats of the wings and throw them into a plastic bag or a large bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper and feel free to throw in a few splashes of hot sauce (Tabasco is fine). Coat with a few dollops of Grape seed oil (Neutral oil is key) and mix it all together with a utensil or your gloved hands (remember, there is hot sauce there). Throw in about 1/4 cup flower per 1/2 kilo of wings. Toss until the wings are nicely coated. I prefer doing this in a plastic bag since the flour is less likely to clump together.

Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and give it a light coating of oil. Lay out your dredged wings on the sheet and give it a spray of canola oil. I’ve brushed on oil in the past but nothing works as well as good old spray oil. You get a nice even, light and universal coat. Put them in the oven for about 30 minutes. They should look something like this:

Crispy. Flip them over and cook them for another 20 minutes or so. You may or may not have to spray them with more oil. Usually, the oil that I sprayed on the tin foil is adequate.

While they are cooking you can start on the sauce, which is really more of a glaze. Lightly brown about 2 pieces of garlic and a 1/2 knob of ginger. Throw in about 1/4 cup of silan (date syrup), 2 tablespoons of rice or cider vinegar, two splashes of soy and a some sambal oelek, (Indonesian chili paste). Good stuff. I say “some” because the heat level is up to you. If I’m making these for myself I put in about 2 tablespoons. If the family is partaking I use just a teaspoon. Boil the sauce until it looks quite syrupy or until you think it looks like it would scar you for life if it spashled on your face. Remove it from the heat.

Remove the wings from the oven and place them in a large bowl. Slowly pour the sauce on the wings, taking a break every few seconds to toss them around so they are evenly coated. Don’t go overboard on the glaze. First, it’s strong stuff with really intense flavor so you don’t need that much. And second, too much sauce will damage the delicious crispiness and make your wings soggy. No one likes soggy wings. Once you feel that your wings are evenly coated, grab your tongs and put them back on the sheet.

Something glorious will happen, but you must be patient. The uber-hot wings will further cook with the syrupy deliciousness. They will become one. Wait about seven minutes or so. Fear not, they will cool down into edible territory. Enjoy and eat them with some of those carrot and kohlrabi pickles you made last week, ok?