Super Bowl Party Wings

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The most-watched broadcast of the whole year in the United States is just a few days away, and with the game come several traditions: listening to see if the singer will spontaneously forget the lyrics and/or the melody of the Star-Spangled Banner, hoping the coin actually flips when someone tosses it, arguing with friends and family about which commercials were the best or the worst, enjoying or thoroughly hating the halftime show… the list goes on. Of course, here I mean to list only the traditions not proper to the game of football itself.

Today’s recipe comes out of another one of those traditions that are integral to the game experience, but which have nothing to do with the game per se: food. Specifically, finger foods, namely, chicken wings.

As I’ve covered many times in several chicken recipes already posted here, poultry and fowl have two different kinds of meat: white and dark. White meat is the meat that has the least myoglobin, hemoglobin, proteins, and connective tissue. Dark meat is just the opposite—lots of myoglobin, hemoglobin, proteins, and connective tissues. Especially because of the differences in that last category, dark meat tolerates a much higher temperature without going dry. (In fact, if you go to my Signature Dish, you’ll see that there I tell you to cook the meat 20-plus degrees more well-done than “well-done” for chicken, according to the government.) 

Connective tissue melts at a very high temperature, which explains why it’s beneficial to “overcook” (according to the FDA/USDA) dark meat—because if dark meat is eaten at 160, the experience will be suboptimal since the collagen in the dark meat will not have fully converted into gelatin. This collagen-to-gelatin melting reaction is part of what makes poultry (and other meats) “juicy.” White meat has very little collagen, so it’s much easier to dry it out, which explains why it's important to stop the cooking process as soon as white meat reaches a safe temperature. Even 5 or 10 extra degrees will feel overcooked and grainy or gritty if you deal with white meat.

Anyways, back to the wings. Chicken wings, if they’re intact, look kind of like a Z. One end was obviously connected to the body of the bird. The first of the three segments of the “Z,” the part closest to that connection to the body via a joint, is the drumette. After the drumette comes the flat, which has less meat on it. Further out still is the wingtip, which has the least meat. When you eat a chicken wing and you find yourself in a part of the wing with one thick bone, that’s the drumette. If you see two thinner bones, that’s the flat. If you can, try to buy wings that only have the first two sections, since the third section is basically only bone and/or cartilage. (But if you’re making chicken stock, buy whole wings—you need the extra cartilage in that case.) If you prefer one of the parts of the wings, of course, buy only that part. For all intents and purposes to a home cook, the flat and the drumette can be treated exactly the same way.

Here, I’ll present 3 recipes for chicken wing rubs. All these wings should be cooked the same way: in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 400-degree oven until they reach at least 180 degrees internally. 40 minutes should be perfect, but that could fluctuate depending on how accurate your oven is, how big it is, how full it is with chicken, etc. Go by how cooked the chicken is, not by how much time has passed. If you deal with wings enough, you’ll know by feel if they are done.

First, let’s begin with a true classic for the chicken wing: buffalo sauce. A day before the wings which will become buffalo wings are to be served, take them out of their containers and place them on a sheet tray (ideally with a wire rack to maximize air circulation). Liberally salt the wings. Leave them uncovered in the fridge on the sheet tray for 24 hours. This process is known as dry brining. It more thoroughly seasons the wings, and it dries out the skin, allowing for more crispy skin that won’t go soggy even when the wings are totally coated in the various sauces. (This method should, like the cooking method, be observed with all the sauce combinations. Buffalo sauce is a mixture of butter, hot sauce, and spices. 

Over medium heat on a stovetop in a small saucepan, 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter per dozen wings, and add to that garlic powder, onion powder, fresh cracked black pepper, and your choice of paprika style (hot, smoked, sweet, or any combination thereof). Whisk to dissolve the powders. Once the powdered spices have been activated by the hot fat in the butter and the spices are fragrant, add to that mixture 1 ounce of hot sauce per dozen wings (more if you like the heat, less if you don’t). Whisk again. Cook over medium-low heat for another 5 minutes. As soon as the wings are done in the oven, place them in your biggest heatproof bowl and transfer your sauce into that same container where the wings are. If you have a big bowl, you can toss your wings by flicking your wrists, but if you aren’t comfortable with the technique, use a pair of tongs to toss the wings and evenly distribute the sauce to coat all the wings.

For lemon-pepper wings, follow the same procedure of dry-brining and then roasting the wings. The sauce is again made up of 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter per dozen wings, plus the zest and juice of 3 lemons per 2 dozen wings, salt to taste, and 20 cranks of freshly ground black pepper per dozen wings. I have worked with “lemon-pepper” seasonings before, and I have also made my own lemon-pepper chicken (not necessarily wings), and the two versions of the seasoning—the premade “lemon-pepper” and the seasoning I make myself—are worlds apart. Lemons are quite acidic, so if you want, feel free to use limes, oranges, or another citrus you prefer instead. If you would like to, you could also add a shot of tequila to the butter, fresh citrus juice and zest, and ground pepper. If you do this and you choose to make tequila-lemon-pepper wings, be sure the alcohol completely evaporates before using this sauce with the wings, especially if you’re making these wings for a party and little kids might be watching the game with you.

This third recipe is a riff on the Signature Dish I mentioned above. Combine the spices from the signature dish (paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, oregano, thyme, basil, salt, fresh ground black pepper) with the butter, and, as before, infuse the spices into the sauce, then toss the wings in the sauce as soon as they’re done.

Finally, a honey mustard sauce. Combine the butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and 2 teaspoons each of good Dijon or whole grain mustard and raw clover or other wildflower honey. Adjust the seasonings as necessary so that the tangy mustard, sweet honey, and rich butter are balanced. As before, prepare the sauce and toss it immediately with the wings.

(Credit to Bon Appetit's BA's Best Wings)