200 Year Old Chicken Wing Recipe!!! Townsends tries Clairmont's Recipe

Everyone seems to think that chicken wings started in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo NY. Well, those are Buffalo wings, but people have been eating chicken wings as long as chickens have had wings. Proof is found in a 200 year old recipe that was reviewed by Youtuber Jon Townsend.

Jas. Townsend & Son was to start a unique business in Piecerton Indiana that specialized in anything historical to do with the 18th Century (particularly American); Clothes, pottery, tools, books, spices - you name it, they do it. Well several years ago Jon Townsend (the son in Townsend & Son) who now runs the business, started an educational channel on Youtube with the focus being on cooking in the 18th Century while occasionally highlighting products from the store.

As a history nut, I fell in love with the videos as they showed not only what people ate back in the 1700's, but how they prepared them by using the few cookbooks that existed in that time.

"Thanks for joining us today as we savour the flavours and aromas of the 18th century"

 The food often looks soo good, and the host is so welcoming, charming and friendly, you can't help but enjoy watching the videos.

I've always wanted to feature them somehow on the blog and today I noticed they had a new video posted. I couldn't believe it when I saw it; a 200 year old recipe for chicken wings!

The recipe comes from The Professed Cook by Clermont, which is translation of an older French cook book called "The Courts Dinner". In English, it's called "Chickens Without Art" but Jon points out the better interpretation is "Chicken, the easier and friendly way"

INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS (condensed by me):

• 8 whole wings
• Pepper & Salt
• Chopped Parsley
• Green Shallots
• Mushrooms
• Oil
• Cullis (meat stock)
• Juice of a lemon

1. Cut off the wings of four middling chickens and flattened with handle of knife
2. Marinate them with pepper and salt, chopped parsley, green shallots, mushrooms, and a little good oil
3. Put them in a stew-pan, separately with the marinade, on a good brisk fire
4. Turn them soon as they will be done in about a quarter of an hour
5. Remove the wings and lay on the serving dish
6. Add two spoonfuls of Cullis to the sauce; skim it well
7. Add a good squeeze of lemon to the sauce, and serve on top of wings

The whole recipe is actually simple and accessible to do (many recipes seem to call for something we don't have access today). Aside from the mushrooms, this sounds like something I want to try!

Jon is doing double duty on this show; he's half Julia Child teaching the audience to cook on his show, but he's also our history teacher, navigating us through both language and events that are far removed from us today. He does a great job of both!

Not only that, but the cinematography is beautiful and the food looks so good in both preparation and execution. He is not only a great host, but he seems to have an excellent team backing him up behind the scenes.

So how did they turn out? 

"Whoa! The flavours are tremendous!" Jon exclaims, as he too is trying this recipe for the first time. It's a delight to watch him eat and explore these lost dishes.  "This is just one of those 'you've got to try it' ... boy, it's like 10 stars!" 

Short ingredient list, short prep time, easy to make, chicken wings, from 200 years ago? I'm in!

So check out this video and the rest over at Townsends - if you love history or food, you'll love this channel.