One more triumph in the war
I realized this morning that I haven't posted a recipe for awhile...
I don't have any pictures of this one, because everything disappeared too quickly, but the bourbon soaked chicken wings I made for work were big time popular (they were gone by lunchtime), and so I thought that I'd post the recipe here, in case you wanted to try them. This is not only an easy recipe, but it's one of the better uses of the crock pot that I've come across, especially since the smell of these babies as they sit waiting to be consumed is something of an amazement--I could smell them stewing away all day long, all over the department, and it was just incredible.
Bourbon Street Buffalo Wings
Recipe courtesy Drew Cerza, The Wing King
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 ounces bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon ancho pepper, finely chopped
8 ounces chili sauce
8 ounces barbecue sauce
3 ounces wing sauce
For the wings:
Oil, for frying
50 chicken wings
Blue cheese dressing, for serving
Bourbon, for serving
For the sauce:
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the shallot and garlic cloves and saute, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the bourbon, brown sugar and the honey to heat through, 1 minute. Next add the ancho pepper, chili sauce, barbeque sauce, and wing sauce and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes. Keep warm until ready to serve.
For the chicken wings:
Heat oil in a deep-fryer. As you make the sauce, drop chicken wings, in batches (the amount you drop in at 1 time will depend on the size of your fryer) into the deep-fryer. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove the wings from the oil and drain.
Add the wings to a large mixing bowl and toss in the sauce, coating each wing.
Serve blue cheese dressing and 1/2 shots of bourbon, on the side, for adults to sip.
Now, I couldn't serve these with the half-shots of bourbon as suggested, but I did end up putting a good number of those half-shots in the actual sauce--I only had a little bit of Wild Turkey left in the bottle of bourbon I had, so I just tossed it in with the sauce--so it turned into more like three quarters of a cup of bourbon rather than the two ounces.
Also, I didn't fry the wings--I put them on a half sheet pan and baked them off in the oven until they were browned. I think that frying would have made them a bit crispy, but I wasn't hearing any complaints.
The thing that I think really made this work was the fact that I made them on Sunday, and didn't serve them until Tuesday, and so the wings were sitting in that crock with the sauce, refrigerated, all that time. It tenderized them to nearly melting, and spiked the flavor right to the bone.
They were, in a word, delicious--but I barely got a chance to find out, and out of all those wings, I got one....
A double batch might be in order for next time.
One of the other guys made wings, and he actually got to take some home with him at the end of the day...so I guess we know who the Wing Queen of Underwriting really is.
I don't have any pictures of this one, because everything disappeared too quickly, but the bourbon soaked chicken wings I made for work were big time popular (they were gone by lunchtime), and so I thought that I'd post the recipe here, in case you wanted to try them. This is not only an easy recipe, but it's one of the better uses of the crock pot that I've come across, especially since the smell of these babies as they sit waiting to be consumed is something of an amazement--I could smell them stewing away all day long, all over the department, and it was just incredible.
Bourbon Street Buffalo Wings
Recipe courtesy Drew Cerza, The Wing King
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 ounces bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon ancho pepper, finely chopped
8 ounces chili sauce
8 ounces barbecue sauce
3 ounces wing sauce
For the wings:
Oil, for frying
50 chicken wings
Blue cheese dressing, for serving
Bourbon, for serving
For the sauce:
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the shallot and garlic cloves and saute, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the bourbon, brown sugar and the honey to heat through, 1 minute. Next add the ancho pepper, chili sauce, barbeque sauce, and wing sauce and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes. Keep warm until ready to serve.
For the chicken wings:
Heat oil in a deep-fryer. As you make the sauce, drop chicken wings, in batches (the amount you drop in at 1 time will depend on the size of your fryer) into the deep-fryer. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove the wings from the oil and drain.
Add the wings to a large mixing bowl and toss in the sauce, coating each wing.
Serve blue cheese dressing and 1/2 shots of bourbon, on the side, for adults to sip.
Now, I couldn't serve these with the half-shots of bourbon as suggested, but I did end up putting a good number of those half-shots in the actual sauce--I only had a little bit of Wild Turkey left in the bottle of bourbon I had, so I just tossed it in with the sauce--so it turned into more like three quarters of a cup of bourbon rather than the two ounces.
Also, I didn't fry the wings--I put them on a half sheet pan and baked them off in the oven until they were browned. I think that frying would have made them a bit crispy, but I wasn't hearing any complaints.
The thing that I think really made this work was the fact that I made them on Sunday, and didn't serve them until Tuesday, and so the wings were sitting in that crock with the sauce, refrigerated, all that time. It tenderized them to nearly melting, and spiked the flavor right to the bone.
They were, in a word, delicious--but I barely got a chance to find out, and out of all those wings, I got one....
A double batch might be in order for next time.
One of the other guys made wings, and he actually got to take some home with him at the end of the day...so I guess we know who the Wing Queen of Underwriting really is.