Or can you?
I've sampled my fair share of frozen wings, but one I had heard of being good but never tried was Pinty's. While I have seen them at Food Basics, it is the Costco bag that I hear everyone raving about.
So I had issues from choosing flavours in the isle. Ok BBQ, honey garlic (gross) are there, but the big offender is "Classic Buffalo" wings. THESE ARE NOT BUFFALO WINGS!!!! Hot wings, yes, Buffalo, no. These are baked, so they cannot be Buffalo Wings. But there's no way I'm getting honey garlic.
Issue 2: microwave!?!?!? NO! BBQ, ok maybe. Oven, well, it will have to do.
The ingredients were off to a good start. Chicken. The sauce, starts off pretty close to a Buffalo sauce (cayenne, vinegar) but water and corn starch and garlic show up. And no butter. Then there's a bunch of other things that make me wonder . . . what is going on in the sauce?
I have to admit, when I opened the bag, the smell was good and hot. And when I transferred the wings frozen from bag to oven rack, the sauce that got on my fingers had a nice bite . . . I was looking forward to them.
Above is 3 stages of cooking: frozen, half baked, fully baked.
The instructions said to cook at 400 degrees for 20 mins, or for a crispier wing, cook at 425 degrees for 20-30 mins. Well I did that, and they weren't crispy. So I left them in longer and cooked for a total of 50 mins for crispy wings.
The wings in all their glory. And yes, that is a Batman mug (with milk) from the 1989 movie that I re-found at my parents the last time I was there. I am just that awesome. 
Overall, the wings were a great size. There were some smalls ones, lots of medium and a number or large wings. All were very meaty, but not tough like some frozen wings.
The wings were very saucy when they were in their frozen and mid cooking states. But I likes me some crispy wings, so I had to sacrifice the sauce. I realized the crispiness comes from the caramelized sauce more than the skin itself.
The sauce had a nice bite to them, that lingered. I mean it didn't blow my socks off. But in the context of a frozen wing, that's some mighty spicy wings. Actually, the wing sauce tasted almost identical to PC Buffalo Wings. But given the size/meatiness and the zippy bite, they are much better.
That being said, having eaten not even half, I got bored, nay, sick of eating them as they were. I had to get some other wing sauce to jazz them up.
FINAL SCORE: If I had to have frozen wings, I would have to say that these would be my favourite so far. Big bag with a big price, but you get a good size wings. Just have something on the side for dipping. Keep in mind, these ain't real Buffalo Wings. 6/9 FWS
Never heard of 'em but they look pretty good.
ReplyDeleteTeena - I would say my favourite frozen wing, but that's not saying a lot . . .
ReplyDeleteI *LOVE* Pinty's Buffalo Chicken Wings as far as frozen wings go.
ReplyDelete$14.99 for 1.5KG at Costco.
Robin - ya, as far as frozen wings go, these are tops of all the ones I've tried.
ReplyDeleteI work part time for the company...and yes for frozen wings these are the best my kids love them
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - glad to hear as an employee you like them as well. How do you cook them up for your kids?
ReplyDeleteWorst wings I ever ever ate. 15.99 a box and they hit the trash. stick with homemade. No one liked them at all.
ReplyDeleteI've been hooked on these for years. Love em.
ReplyDeleteBeen waiting to try these, well not looking to try them again picked up a box at Food Basics With Bourbon and Cola sauce, definitely not worth the price, I'll stick with my own done in BBQ and smoker
ReplyDeleteOk My Hubby and I have had wings from every pizza joint in Toronto they sucked. We have made them home made they were awesome but I hate working with raw chicken. Too much work especially the clean up... As far as Pinty's wings are concerned we are hooked big time in 1 month we've had at least 8 boxes.We love them! WTG Pinty's now if you could just lower the price before we go bankrupt that would be awesome...lol!
ReplyDeleteFattiest wings I've ever had. Horrible.
ReplyDelete@Stephen Sollie - this review is almost 10 years old ... and I think the quality has declined a lot. Sorry to hear about your experience ...
ReplyDeleteJust picked up a 2kg. bag of Salt and Pepper wings and a 2 kg. bag of Honey Garlic wings at Costco. I was surprized to find Pintys does not use the resealable bags any longer. Now one must wrap elastics around each bag to close. Will have to try the competition.
ReplyDeleteD.S.
@anon - that's backwards, getting rid of the ziplock!??!
ReplyDeleteWhat would the best frozen wing be if my options are Food Basics, Shoppers, and Costco?
ReplyDelete@unknown - I would say if you can get Prime frozen wings, they are a pretty solid frozen wing. Jane's seems to be crap, and President's Choice really depends on the product (I really like the Smoked PC wings for example). It's been years since I've had the Pinty's wings from Costco but they used to be good but people have written to tell me they aren't good anymore. Let me know how your search goes!
ReplyDeleteabsolutely disgusting. They must have changed where they source the chicken. There are giant globs of gelatinous (fat?) all throughout the wings. They are so bad, I'm not sure how they even pass safety regulations in Canada.
ReplyDeleteGreat gobs of fat in them. Totally weird. We both felt they were unnatural and unhealthy and pitched them in the garbage. Something’s changed. They used to be good.
ReplyDelete