I serve these with blue cheese and dill dipping sauce.
traditional hot sauce
2 cups roasted tomatoes diced
1 1/4 cup chilis of your choice - I prefer to roast mine
1 cup rice wine or white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves
Cook on high for 5 mins, reduce to a simmer and hold for 20 mins, then stick blend/processor into a smooth sauce.
I love hot, but it doesn’t like me. I like the wings grilled and a milder sauce. A large bottle of Crystal hot sauce and 1/4 cube of butter. I make a blue cheese/ranch dressing for dipping.
Blue Cheese Ranch Dip:
4 ounces blue cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 TBSP Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
In a small mixing bowl, mash blue cheese with a fork. Mix in remaining ingresients and whisk until well blended. Chill before serving.
I don’t do really hot foods and I also don’t fry wings, I smoke them. My favorite is to smoke the wings with hickory and then to get a bottle of George’s Hot and George’s Original and mix them 50/50. Take about half a bottle of the mix and simmer it down till it coats a spoon. Toss the wings in the thickened sauce and serve. Easy and delicious.
A brewpub in Blacksburg, VA does spicy garlic smoked wings. They are manna from heaven.
I don’t make wings myself. It’s mainly because I have really sensitive eyes, and I hate eating messy foods with my hands. No matter how much I wash my hands, there’s always some residue left on my fingers and even hours later if I touch my eyes they will tear up and burn.
That said, a good friend of mine is a wing connoisseur and makes killer wings himself. The trick is to pre-bake them for about 20 minutes before you fry them. The fried wings come out super-crispy, and the meat is nice and moist.
For a sauce, you can’t beat the traditional - Frank’s Red Hot and Margarine. Toss in some pepperoncini rings to boost the flavor without amping up the heat.
LOVE smoked wings. That’s my method. I make all kinds of sauces- the ubiquitous Buffalo, spicy Asian, spicy garlic, spicy bbq, etc. The common thread - spicy. Not stupid ghost/Reaper hot, just a blend of chilis including habanero.
I “glaze” the wings with a quick hot bake after I toss my wings. No sloppy wings is a good wing, not for me anyway. A prebake is nice, but honestly, a boil is better. I know it sounds crazy, but boil for 5 mins, drain, coat with flour, then flash fry, sauce, bake and enjoy.
I love all sorts of wings. I’ve been smoking my wings lately too. I use a Cajun seasoning rub and smoke them with Pecan wood. They are great with or without sauce. Now I’m hungry!
I do them on the smoker, too. Typically, I’ll soak them overnight in marinade. One bag gets BBQ, one bag gets something spicy. Toss them on the smoker and let 'em go. Easy. Tasty. Always a hit.
Having made many flavors of wings over the years, my favorite is still good ole Buffalo wings. Grilled. Here is how I make them:
Use whole chicken wings. Cut off the flipper. Season with your favorite seasoning salt (I use our local Montana product, Alpine Touch).
Grill offset in a kamodo-type grill. Lump charcoal, a handfull of wood chips. Should take about 45 minutes in a 325° grill.
Meanwhile, make the sauce.
A cup or so of Frank’s
1/4 to 1/2 stick of butter
A few drops of Tabasco
A few drops of red wine vinegar
Melt over low heat on the stove.
Once the wings are cooked, dip in the sauce pan individually and put back on the grill for 5-10 minutes.
For mild wings, dip and grill once. For medium wings, dip and grill twice. For hot wings, dip and grill thrice.
Serve with celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing.
My wife prefers Hoisin wings. She takes a jar of Hoison sauce, butter, a tablespoon or so of peanut butter, and a couple of tablespoons of my Buffalo sauce. They are pretty good, but a little too sweet for me.
i pretty much stopped frying my wings, so much mess and cleanup. I still slightly prefer fried, but i find baked to be almost perfect, a bit healthier and much easier to make. i bake them on a rack in a sheet pan at 425-450 after some olive oil and S/P beforehand. takes about 45 min to an hour, dependent on how crispy you want the skin.
then proceed with your prep. i like fairly hot, but my gf does not. so i often make different types of sauces - maple/Dijon/pepper, raspberry with Frank’s etc. if they’re just for me, all bets are off.
I have to say, they were delicious. My wife liked them a LOT more than my usual Buffalo wings. The boatload of fresh garlic and ginger flavor is a big plus.