There was an amazing deal on fresh, uncut chicken wings at the nearby Asian market store and I bought a pound of wings to have with lunch. Well I bought 2 pounds. Well then one more because it was such a good deal. 2 of the pounds went into the freezer but the last pound I planned on going out and using the community grill for the first time since the fall.
Unfortunately due to various circumstances, that didn't happen. I didn't want to bake the wings, so I did a little research online and decided to try dry frying the wings. The dry frying idea is that you don't need oil or anything else to fry the wings, just use the chicken's natural fat to produce a crispy wings. Sounded simple enough ...
I had to cut the whole wings for them to fit into the pan. I dry rubbed them with Frank's Red Hot Dry Seasoning, garlic powder, paprika and salt. I then made sure that all the wings were skin/fat side down; the reason for this is that the fat will render out making the skin crispy, but also providing that oil needed for when you flip the wing over.
I found it interesting that in the dry frying process you place them in a cold pan, place the pan, then start heating. I don't know the food science behind this (where is Alton Brown when you need him?) but this is what I did.
After frying for about 10 minutes I could see the skin turning a nice golden brown. I was impressed. Some of the chicken skin stuck to the pan; I lowered the heat and waited a minute or so until they naturally released themselves.
Pro-tip: make sure your vent fan is on high for the heat. There wasn't a lot of smoke, or even that much smell, but better safe than sorry.
To make sure the inside of the wings were cooked through, I covered the wings which kind of steamed the chicken. I removed the lid after the first 5 minutes to reduce the 'steam' effect and help crisp up the skin again. Also, you may have to toss the drummettes a third time because they kind of have 3 sides instead of just 2 to make sure you get crispy coverage.
There was so much fat/grease from the chicken that if I didn't do this myself, I would have sworn they were cooked in oil.
I took the wings out and actually did a little paper towel dab to remove some of the excess oil. There was a lot of excess oil.
Look at that, crispy skin! They were tasty just like this,
I made a hot wing sauce on the side: 1 part butter, 1.5 parts Frank's, 1/2 part 3rd Degree & Sriracha each. Melted and hot. It was VERY good. Buttery, rich, nuanced, and a good kick. As soon as I added the sauce I knew I added way too much for these wings to handle.
I served myself these wings with some leftover fries and extra hot sauce I made. I was very pleased with my meal.
The good news is that the wings were very tasty. The bad news is that the sauce completely destroyed the crispiness of the skin. Obliterated it. Again, I tossed them in waaay too much sauce, so that didn't help. But without that true deep-fry crispingness, these wings didn't have a hope in hell.
I would totally make these wings again. Next time though, I would definitely do these as a dry rub and maybe do a sauce drizzle. There is merit to this method, but you have to do it right.
Overall, I'd say a successful experiment with room for improvements.
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