Chestnut's BATTLE of the WINGS 2013

This past January was once again the epic Battle of the Wings at work - and the competitors really brought their A-games.

Last year's winner was Fitzroy, so he was defending champ. And the other Chef's wanted the win this year.

"Who's Wings Reigns Supreme?" This year it was all up to straight vote - no influence from my choices.

Food and Beverage Manager Glenn was on hand, getting the line-ups of students hyped up and ready to take their vote on wings.

This year the chef's were laid out equally out front, talking smack and promoting their tasty creations.

No matter who got the vote, it was clear that we were the winners with lots of tasty wings, well worth the line-up.

EDDIE'S SWEET SPICY WINGS

• Breaded, deep fried.
• Tossed in a sweet/spicy sauce.
• Squirt with lime wedge, add creamy sauce on the side.

JACO's OLD SCHOOL WINGS

• Dusted, deep fried.
• Tossed in a suicide sauce (7lbs of scotch bonnet peppers for 32 litres of sauce, 8 litres of Frank's Red Hot sauce .

• Enhanced blue cheese dip on the side to cut the heat.

OLIVIA'S QUEST to the ISLAND WINGS

• Marinated in coconut milk, chipotle, lime, salt and pepper and cayenne.
• Rolled in panko, shredded coconut and flour.
• Roasted in oven.

• Island jerk sauce (sweet chili, lime, coconut milk, molases) applied when ready to serve.

FITZROY's GLUTEN FREE MANDARIN ORANGE WINGS

• Wings tossed in white cornmeal and Parmesan cheese.
• Baked.
• Sauce: stewed down mandarin oranges, blended with smokey flavoured BBQ sauce, grenadine, ginger, garlic.

EDDIE's

The first in the line up, these wings had so much going for them. First off, deep fried with a nice breading that was crunchy and had an excellent texture. The sauce was more sweet than spicy but was just plain love as far as I was concerned. The added lime gave a great acidity to the sweetness. The cream sauce on the side definitely complimented the whole thing, but was unnecessary in my opinion.

I hate to play favourites, but this was my vote. It just had everything going for it.

JACO's

These wings had a special place in my heart, because these were a suicide wing. It was a bold move because apparently there are a lot of people out there who can't eat hot. It's 2013 and people still have a hard time eating heat. I was also told by a source that part of Jaco's strategy was to burn people's mouths so they couldn't taste the other sauces. I like that.

I found this to be an excellent suicide wing. It had a lot of heat, but you could still taste the sauce. I wish this was a standard for hot wings. The blue cheese dip on the sauce was doctored up, so it was extra creamy, chunky, and oh so good.

OLIVIA's

What I really like about Olivia's wings is that she really goes outside the box and delivers something completely different. I mean a coconut and panko coated wing? This is mad scientist realm, and I really dug it. Even though it was baked, it was still crispy. This was a sweet wing, and it reminded me of coconut shrimp, except with chicken and not shrimp.

The Island sauce was also slightly sweet and slightly spicy. It succeeded when added at the last minute as was being done, because I think the wing would have suffered if it had sat in the sauce for a while. This was a wild card wing, and if you don't like coconut or sweetness, this might not be for you. But otherwise, I thought such a really unique idea that flavour-wise, paid off.

FITZROY's

Fitzroy was really going the extra mile to try some new ideas. First off, going for a gluten free wing (after talking to students who suffer from gluten allergies) really brought a different dimension to this offering. There was also a ton of preparation that went into these wings.

I enjoyed the wings but felt it suffered from the baked coating that became mush from the very sweet and gooey sauce. I normally prefer my wings tossed, but I think these should have been dipped for better structural integrity. Don't get me wrong, I still had seconds. Maybe even thirds . . .

Here are some of my staff, former staff and my boss all enjoying their wings. Lots of different opinions on what everyone liked, but there was a general concensus: this is an awesome event.

The votes came in, and Eddie's wings were the winner. But really, we the eaters all won.

 Congrats Eddie!

Chestnut BATTLE of the WINGS 2012

Found this from 2012 . . .  I can't find my notes so it will just have to be photos. What I can tell you is that they were good, and Fitzroy won.

Chestnut's BATTLE of the WINGS - 2011

This review is late. Exactly one year late. But better late than never.

In 2010 I was invited to come and judge the first Battle of the Wings challenge at Chestnut Residence at the University of Toronto. Run by executive Chef Jaco Lokker and Food & Beverage Manager Glenn Edwards, the competition was between Jaco and his three sous chef's, Eddie, Fitzroy and Oliva with each of them designing their own wings.

I was honoured to be a judge again and for all the promotion. My vote didn't count for as much this time, but really that's much more fair.

At 4:45pm the wings came out. Each student picked up a ballot, then plated up the wings. This went on until the wings ran out around 7:30. How many wings do they go through? 1000 pounds of wings. That's one pound for every student in the building.

I was fortunate to also get behind the scenes and see how the wings were made. It was fascinating to see how the food was prepared and the testing that went into the wings.

The ballots were secret, with students only knowing the number of the wings. I'm going to tell you though who's was who's.

WING #1

Eddies wings (with help from Berto)

These wings were quite different from the ones I had sampled behind the scenes. They were breaded, deep fried, and had a sweet and spicy sauce.

WING #2

Jaco's Wings

Jaco's wings were similar to the ones he won with last year, but toned down a bit. Breaded and deep fried with a sweet and spicy sauce as well. I didn't get to try these earlier because he was keeping very secretive.

WING #3

Fitzroy's Wings.

Fitzroy went with jerk-style wings again. These were marinaded, then baked.

WINGS #4

Olivia's wings.

Olivia tested out a number of recipes, and being the 'rookie', had a lot of pressure on her. She went with a breaded dry wing, that was seasoned with citrus and salt and had a creamy dressing put on the side.

My first test plate. It was so good. And I need to be clear, they were all very good. Choosing was tough.

I think these are Jaco's wings. Not only has it been a year, but Jaco's and Eddie's wings look very similar. If they were Jaco's, they were a bit sweet, and a bit spicy. They also had a nice crunch.

Fitzroy's jerk wings were tender (having marinaded at least over night, then roasted). They weren't too spicy heat wise, but they did have a lot of flavouring of spice.

Olivia's wings were definitely a unique way to go. Crispy and crunchy - they maintained this structure because there was no sauce. The seasoning was citrus/salty which made for a nice piece of chicken, but add the creamy, garlicky sauce on the side and you had a lot of different things going on different levels.

Eddies wings were also crispy. I was told the sauce went through several revisions, and one of the ingredients was 7-Up! It had a nice heat to it, but was also sweet. Although I have to admit I did like the tandoori style sauce that they started out with.

Of course you need to keep trying to make sure you're judging correctly.

No seriously. Because different batches came out slightly differently. This is both an art and a science.

Hundreds of votes were cast for their favourite. Everyone had their opinion heard. I also made my judgement, who happened to be in the majority.

So who won (Well besides all of us eating the wings)? Well, lets watch the video and see:

Congratulations Eddie (and Berto)! It was close, but I think Battle of the Wings 2011 was a complete success.