Nana's Hot Wings!

 

 

Someone wrote to me and asked for a hot wing recipe that wasn't hot.  Now to most people who make and eat hot wings, this might not make sense, but to me it made perfect sense and I knew exactly where to get that recipe.  My mother, who can do wonderful things to a chicken, decided one day that she was going to make hot wings.  I was very skeptical of this undertaking, because my mother has these Gaelic taste buds that cannot tolerate anything the least bit spicy.  She and her sisters all have this problem.  To me, it's a problem, because I love spicy food and the hotter the better.   I guess the Irish skipped right over me and I got my taste buds from my father's side of the family.  

I am thinking my oldest niece worked on this hot wing recipe with my mother originally which might have been a good thing for the spiciness factor.  Anyway, when she presented her first batch, I was not real excited.  Then, when we ate them, I had to admit that even though they weren't all that hot, they were dang good.   They were wonderful!  I should have known not to underestimate her.  

Now, wings are like so many other things, everybody has their own ideas about them and the way they like them. Some like them breaded, some fried and then sauced, some like them with no breading but fried plain and then sauced.   There have to be hundreds of ways.  This is the way we do them and this is a great recipe for those who don't want them really hot.  Of course, you can heat them up if that is what you like and I do make mine a little spicier, actually a lot spicier.   Here is what you will need:


20 chicken wings, cut in three pieces, discard the end piece (you can sometimes find these already cut this way)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
oil for deep frying

Sauce
3/4 cup Frank's Wing Sauce
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder

For Hotter Wings:   Use 1 cup Frank's Wing Sauce or use Texas Pete's which tends to be  a little hotter and add 1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper or more to your taste.  If you want tongue torch hot, add a few drops of habanero sauce, but be careful with it.  

Once you have your wings cut up into pieces,  place them in a bowl of salted water, cover and store in the refrigerator overnight.  This brines them and they will cook up much better.  When you get ready to cook them, drain them and rinse.  Mix flour with salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag and shake the wings in the flour to coat.  Deep fry the wings until the are brown on all sides in oil.  We use canola oil, you can also use peanut or vegetable oil if you prefer.   Remove to a paper towel lined platter.

In a saucepan mix the butter, wing sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp. of chili powder.   Warm until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved.  

Place wings in a 9x13 baking dish and pour the sauce over all.  Make sure all of the wings are covered.  Place foil over the dish and bake for 45 -50 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.  

Serve with celery sticks, carrot sticks and your favorite dressings, usually bleu cheese or ranch.