Sweet and Fiery Honey Chipotle Wings with Buttermilk Blue Cheese
Monday, February 3, 2014 by Unknown
In my opinion, there are few things any tastier than a "good" chicken wing. What makes a "good" chicken wing, you ask? Well, lets start with the wing itself. It must be a nice plump meaty whole chicken wing and not the little tiny drummettes you can buy prepackaged in the supermarket (however, in a pinch, you can substitute the tiny drummette and you will have a perfectly tasty treat, just not a "good" wing). Next you will need to cut off the small wing tip and discard it. Now you are left with what I call the battle club (drummette) and the surfboard which you will need to seperate buy cutting right through the joint. It is actually very easy to do once you get the hang of where the joint is located.
Ok, so you should have two disjointed pieces of plump juicy delicious chicken wing from what was 1 whole chicken wing cut into three pieces (wing tip which as discard, battle club and surfboard). When deciding on a method of cooking, there are basically two ways to go. Before we get to that, one thing that is not negotiable is that the chicken wings must be cooked naked with no flour or breading of any kind...ever. The breading will inevitably mix with the sauce and create an icky gooey pasty mess that has no resemblance to a "good" chicken wing.
Back to cooking. The traditional method is frying which works beautifully and will result in perfectly crisp skin. It is also a gigantic mess to clean up and unless you are in a restaurant kitchen with a big fryer it is not worth the trouble. My suggestion and preferred method for cooking these chicken wings is in a hot oven. I preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, which also assists with the easy cleanup. Place the chicken pieces on the parchment paper with the skin side up. Blot completely dry with a paper to remove any moisture on the skin. I season simply with salt and pepper but if you have other flavors you would like to introduce such as chili powder, etc. you could, just be careful that the spices dont burn. Cook on this first side for about 15 minutes, then turn each piece over for another 10 min. One final flip back to the first side for a final 5 minutes and the you will have the perfect chicken wing vehicle for whatever sauce you decide to create.
I really like the a little bit of sweet in my chicken wing sauce but I also like them to be fiery hot. The hotter the better. For the Sweet and Fiery Honey Chipotle Sauce I combined 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup of chipotle hot sauce (you can use less or more depending on your taste and you can substitute any hot sauce you like), 2 tablespoons of honey and 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Heat until it just starts to bubble, but dont boil or you will have more of a greasy mess than a sticky sauce. Mix the chicken wings with the sauce in a large bowl and turn out onto a plate. You know have a really "good" chicken wing to enjoy!
The perfect dipping sauce, of course, is blue cheese. It is really simple to make at home and ten times better tasting than bottled dip. Crumble a small wedge of blue cheese into a bowl (my favorite is Maytag blue cheese, but you can use any brand you like or even purchase it already crumbled) and add an equal amount of sour cream. Stir to combine, mashing the blue cheese crumbles into the sour cream as you go. Then to thin it out just a bit, add a buttermilk a tablespoon at a time until it is the desired consistency. Season with little garlic powder and salt and pepper. Dont forget the cold, crispy celery sticks....a must!
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