Wings in the oven that don't suck

"People go to restaurants because they can't deep fry food at home" - Someone

Well that was the juste of it anyway and obviously I can't remember who said it. For some reason I think it was Morimoto but that can't be right? Back to the point. I agree that I can't deep fry at home or rather, I won't; its messy, somewhat terrifying and the oil seems to permeate everywhere.

The Chief Creative Officer, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, at seriouseats.com also runs a column on the site called the Food Lab which among other things, specializes in finding innovative solutions related to food and drink. As luck would have it, Kenji has figured out an easy way to get my favourite style of wing (non-battered with a dry crispy exterior and moist interior) using the oven.

This post from the Food Lab outlines the fine details of how it works in a much more clever tone than I can write with, so I encourage you guys to check it out. For the sake of just getting the quick and dirty version, here is how it worked out for me:

Wings drying out in the fridge (left) and just
out of the oven and before adding to sauce (right).

Toss about 2 pounds of raw chicken wings in about a tablespoon of baking powder. Read the article if you want to know why, but this is maybe the most critical step.

Station them on a rack to dry out in the fridge (uncovered, is that unsafe?) over night.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes/side.

Then just toss them in your favourite sauce until well coated, back in the oven under the broiler for ~5 minutes and thats all there is too it.








I made a pretty simple sauce blending together: molasses (Sidney Crosby's fancy molasses of course); lime juice; chipotles (from a can in adobo sauce); a serrano chili; mint and a bit of salt and pepper.