A growingly popular wing flavour on menu's these days is Cajun. Most often than not, it is a dry rub tossed into freshly fried wings. Well heck, I can do that too. I have some Club House Cajun seasoning in my spice cabinet. Why can't I make some Cajun wings?
When I was starting to make these wings, this was just going to be a recipe post, but it turns out it is a product review at the same time. Well not really a review, but just me telling you that I like and use Club House Cajun. No they didn't pay me to say that (no one pays me to say that). I just want to be up front with my awesome readers.
I am not Cajun, have not had the pleasure of being immersed in Cajun culture, and the closest I am is to anything authentically Cajun is JB. So I don't know if this is a good representation of what Cajun spices are, but if I was to guess, the peppers and vegetables listed seem like they should fit.
Opening the cap, you get a deep, earthy smell. There is no dominant odor in the mixture, but the onion/garlic combo is identifiable. The looks is also earthy brown tones and muted reds and yellows. It makes me think of fall . . .
My split wings were deep fried naked. Nice crispy skin, tender meat. Then it was time to season them.
Swooosh! Around the bowl they went. Because the wings were fresh from the fryer, the spice mixture stuck to the wings really well.
Stuck to them well, but not evenly, and with some left at the bottom of the plate.
And then the taste test. No I haven't actually made my own Cajun spiced wings before - I do use the spice when doing Beer Can Chicken, but have yet to officially do it with wing. But I was happy at the results. The spice really complimented the crispy skin and the chicken meat. A very mild heat from the pepper, but a lot of flavour accompanied this dry-style wing.
Oh and I also made some garlic bread. I cheated and used store bought garlic butter. I don't care, it was good.
Dry-style wings are good - but after eating a few, I needed some sauciness. So I broke out some Buffalo Wing Sauce and tossed the already coated wings. With this simple but brilliant move, I went from tasty town all the way up to flavour country.
The hot sauce really complimented the Cajun spice. This marriage of tastes really utilized their strong points: savoury complex seasoning with spicy, wet sauce. I think this was a great in between wing that would satisfy those who like hot and spicy wings and those who like mild and flavourful. At my next dinner party (make that my first wing party) this will probably be on the menu.
Club House Cajun
These look good but I agree with the need for saucing them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe next time you could add the cajun seasoning to the hot sauce then toss the wings so it coats more evenly like you said?
I like how the rub has some coarse spices in it.