Crunchy Coating: Super Breaded & Beer Battered Wings

Buffalo wings are good, that much is clear. Buffalo wings are simple, and it's that simplicity that makes them great (you know, and the awesome sauce). But that doesn't mean you can't improve the wing situation.


Hot sauce, we've covered before in terms of taste; you can make it, you can buy it, we aren't worrying about that today. No, we want to focus on texture over the taste today. We want a wing that's big, crispy, nay, CRUNCHY. I want to feel that first bite. I want to HEAR that first bite. The best way is to put on some sort of crispy coating on the outside of the skin. So I'm putting on my lab coat and goggles, and heading to my kitchen lab to whip up some bizarre culinary science project.

(please note, I don't actually own a lab coat or goggles. Actually, I do have goggles, just not here with me)

SUPER BREADED WINGS

INGREDIENTS:

• Wings (washed, split) (approx 10-15)
• Flour (approx 1 cup)
• Corn starch (approx 1 cup)
• Eggs (2)
• Salt & Pepper
• Hot Sauce

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, add wings, salt & pepper, egg. Then add flour and corn starch.
2. Mix mix mix. Will become thick and gloppy, don't worry. Just make sure chicken is coated (don't worry about it being clumpy).
3. Deep fry (in my deep fryer, its 5 wings for about 5 mins).
4. After deep frying all the wings, deep fry a second time for 2-4 minutes to make them extra crispy.
5. Pat dry with paper towel immediately.
6. Drizzle sauce over (if you toss in sauce, it may pool and make the wings soggy) and enjoy immediately.

This breading is super simple. You could jazz it up with spices and other ingredients, but I'm just covering some basics today.



A traditional breading would have you dust the wings in flour, dip into egg wash, then into a flour mixture. While that would create an even breading, we want SUPER breading. This is messy and you will doubt what you are doing because of the clumps on the wings, but stick with me. We will have super crunch.


The final product. You can't tell me those don't look crunchy.

Fresh from the deep fryer, 2nd dip, too hot to hold.

Sauce drizzled over. I just did a simple Buffalo hot sauce. Drizzled over top and I've only done a few wings at a time so they don't get soggy. But make sure that you get sauce everywhere.

BIG CRUNCH. These wings delivered my texture goals.

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BEER BATTERED WINGS

INGREDIENTS:

• Wings (washed, split) (8-10 wings)
• Flour (1 cup)
• 1 Egg
• Beer (355ml approx)
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

1. Dust wings first in flour (very light, to give batter something to cling to).
2. In a bowl, add flour, salt & pepper, egg.
3. Begin to mix with whisk; slowly pour in beer until batter is relatively thick (like a pancake batter).
4. Make sure deep fryer oil is hot and ready.
5. Dip individual wing in batter, then slowly drop by hand into oil, one by one.
6. Deep fry for about 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oil, dry on paper towel.
8. Serve immediately and drizzle with hot sauce. Enjoy!
   

The cast of characters for batter isn't that different from breading. But the outcome is sooo different.

The batter. Not too thick, not too runny. But way more than I needed.

The process: take wing (drummette here), dip into batter, slowly lower into hot oil. Deep fry, remove. Simple but dangerous. Please be careful.

Beer battered wings. Truly an amazing experiment. Smooth and crispy.

You know how these taste like? Chicken balls. North American Chinese chicken balls. Unbelievable.

With some sauced drizzled over, these were really good wings. The batter was light, and very crispy. My tasting partner LJ really enjoyed these.

What Would I Do Differently Next Time? Overall, I was very happy with the experiment. I wanted crispy, crunchy wings, and that's what I got. If there was a chicken wing science fair, I think I just won. Or a close 2nd place.

SUPER BREADED: This would be great to be tossed in a honey/goopey hot sauce. Something sticky. If I was going to do the same way, I would season the wings afterward.

BEER BATTERED: I should have deep fried them a bit longer. Otherwise, these were good the way they were.

If your looking for a big crunch in your wings, these are two different ways you can go with for awesome texture.



Remember, tune in next time for another exciting episode of:

WKTV

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