Experimental Skillet Wings V1.0

It was the weekend, and LJ was away at an office dinner out. I was on my own, I had a surplus of wings due to wing sales at the grocery store. All the right circumstances to have some wing fun. I was going to do a WKTV episode on a different wing recipe, but I was tired and just wanted a wing feast. I almost didn't feel like making wings, plus I wanted some crispy wings and it's still too cold to deep fry on the balcony, and baking just wouldn't do. So then I thought, what about working the old cast iron skillet?




I did two batches of wings up. One breaded crispy and tossed in a suicide sauce, the other dusted and fried, tossed in a spicy BBQ sauce, then baked, then re-tossed in sauce. Yes you heard right.

Here's the first batch that were dusted, tossed in egg wash, then breaded. They are frying in a bit of vegetable oil. I was really looking forward to the crispy texture.

After frying them, I tossed them in a sriracha based wing sauce. It smelled so good and I was loving just tossing them in the metal bowl.

This wasn't so much an experimental batch, as a batch just to get over my extreme hunger. It was getting late into the evening and I hadn't eaten since about 10 am.

I was actually disappointed in these wings. First, despite the crispy batter, the wings got so soggy. I think this was because a) I didn't pat dry the wings of oil enough after frying. I could be wrong, but when you deep fry at high temperatures, it seals in the crust. But the way I fried them I think the oil really penetrated the skin and breading. b) The hot sauce had more melted margarine than sriracha and was just too runny. Don't get me wrong, the flavour was good, but the texture was disappointing.

The next batch, I was just too lazy to do the dusting/egg wash/breading. So I just went with a straight dusting. I also used less oil and I cranked the heat. But I had to watch them so that they didn't burn the outside but cooked the inside.

Before putting them in the tossing bowl, I made sure to use paper towel to blot up any extra oil.

Then I added the sauce. I started with some of the suicide sauce, added a couple of bottled BBQ sauces. Then I tossed the wings and that could have been good enough, but I wanted something more. I kept thinking of PJ Quigleys and hearing they had 'double baked' wings that were deep fried, tossed in sauce, then baked. I haven't been there to try it, but I thought why shouldn't I try?

Into the oven for about 20 minutes or so, and the wings smelled wonderful. I could see that I lost the crispiness on the skin, but the sauce was now baked into the wing. They weren't as wet as I like, so I tossed them back into the bowl with what sauce was left (not much) just to give them a saucy feel and look.

These were a great wing. Warm chicken , slight bite in the heat, with a savoury BBQ sauce. Yes, the skin was not crispy, but what I lost in texture, I gained in flavour. Next time I would try deep frying in the first place and see if that helped keep SOME crispiness in the wings.

Sorry, no actual recipe this time. Just some food photos and some of my process. It's not scientific, but you can't argue with the results. I can't anyway, I ate wings.

Mmmmm, skillet fried baked BBQ sauced wings.