The Art of Cooking Crispy Chicken Wings: A Two-Method Approach

When it comes to cooking crispy chicken wings, many people are left with a dilemma: how to achieve that perfect balance of crunchy skin and juicy meat. To solve this problem, we need to consider two methods: one that involves roasting the wings at high temperatures, and another that uses steam to squeeze out excess fat.

To start, we'll discuss the importance of using racks when cooking chicken wings. The skin on these birds is covered with a natural adhesive-like substance that will stick to a hot piece of metal like a tone to a winter flagpole. To combat this issue, we'll use racks which will help and provide enough space for the wings to breathe during the cooking process. We'll also need to lube them up liberally before laying them on the upholstery. If you want crispy skin, we must pour on the heat - 425 degrees should do the trick. However, there's a risk of smoke from all that tough fat, so it's essential to be aware of this potential outcome.

To mitigate the issue of too much smoke and dry out the meat, we'll need another method. One solution is to cook the wings twice: starting with a wet method. This approach will use steam to provide the necessary heat to squeeze excess fat out of those wings without overcooking or drawing the meat or skin. To achieve this, we'll bring a large pot filled with water to a boil and then lower it to just a simmer. We'll also add our luscious payload (the chicken wings) cover and let them cook for 10 minutes, which should be long enough for us to put away all the fans and time to evacuate.

Once we've completed this initial step, we can move on to chilling the wings. Since they're going to be a bit tall for the refrigerator, we'll transfer them to a half sheet pan and cooling rack with a little bit of paper towel because those will keep dripping after they've chilled. Now that the wings have cooled down, it's time to slide them into a 425-degree oven for 20 minutes. When trading out the paper towel for parchment paper, please note that paper towels don't like high temperatures.

Now let's talk sauce! We'll need three ounces of melted butter (that's six tablespoons or three quarters of a stick). The microwave is the right tool for this mission but we must avoid high power which can cause geyser-like explosions as the water inside the butter begins to boil. To prevent this, cutting into pieces helps with this as well while you're at it, maybe you could toss in another clove or two worth of minced garlic. Be sure to mix this along with one half teaspoon of kosher salt in a big bowl that can accommodate tossing the wings and if you want more garlic, throw it in again! Whisking is imperative for the sauce to properly marry with the skin.

The Nice Thing About This Method

One nice thing about this particular method is that even once saturated with sauce, the skins will remain crispy. When we're done with the sauce step, take a moment to admire your handiwork and appreciate how well it has combined with the wings' natural flavor and texture.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwings are covered with skin skin will stick to a hot piece of metal like a tone to a winter flagpole so you're gonna use racks which will help and you'll Lube them up liberally before you lay on the upholstery now if you want crispy skin and of course we do will need to pour on the heat 425 degrees should do the trick of course since they contain a little bit of fat odds are they'll be a bit of smoke but it'll be okay obviously if we roast the wings at 425 will get fabulous skin but too much smoke from all that tough fat ring during out to end up Perales sizing if we go with the lower temperature say 350 for longer time we'll stay beneath the smoke point of the fat we might get that crisp skin will also dry out the meat now we need another method so I'm thinking that the answer to our dilemma is to cook the wings twice starting with a wet method okay steam will provide the necessary heat to squeeze the excess fat out of those wings without overcooking or drawing the the meat or the skin there 24 pieces of chicken each one with plenty of room for steam to get in and around now speaking of steam we will bring to boil and your largest pot about an inch and a half of water and we'll bring that down to just a simmer and then lower in our luscious payload cover and I figure that 10 minutes should do the job just long enough for me to put away all these fans time to evacuate there's gonna be a good bit of steam so Don protection and open the lid away ah very good set those aside and can see by looking down in the water see all that schmaltz in there that means that we've rendered out a considerable amount of fat now once you akule these guys down I think that's a little tall for the refrigerator so we'll move them to a half sheet pan and cooling rack with a little bit of paper towel because those are gonna keep dripping now that they have chilled slide your wings into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes oh and you're gonna want to trade out that paper towel for some parchment paper paper towels don't like high temperatures now let's talk sauce so we need three ounces of melted butter that's six tablespoons or three quarters of a stick now the microwave is the right tool for this mission but you want to avoid high power which can cause geyser like explosions as the water inside the butter begins to boil cutting into pieces helps with this as well while you're at it you might as well go ahead and toss in a cloves worth of minced garlic now make sure you mix this along with one half teaspoon of kosher salt in a big ol bowl big enough to to accommodate the tossing of the wings and of course if you want to up the garlic you could throw in another one maybe two minced cloves at this time there now whisk to combine in order for the sauce to properly marry with the skin it is imperative that this step be done while the wings are still hot the nice thing about this particular method is that even once saturated with sauce the skins will remain crispy youwings are covered with skin skin will stick to a hot piece of metal like a tone to a winter flagpole so you're gonna use racks which will help and you'll Lube them up liberally before you lay on the upholstery now if you want crispy skin and of course we do will need to pour on the heat 425 degrees should do the trick of course since they contain a little bit of fat odds are they'll be a bit of smoke but it'll be okay obviously if we roast the wings at 425 will get fabulous skin but too much smoke from all that tough fat ring during out to end up Perales sizing if we go with the lower temperature say 350 for longer time we'll stay beneath the smoke point of the fat we might get that crisp skin will also dry out the meat now we need another method so I'm thinking that the answer to our dilemma is to cook the wings twice starting with a wet method okay steam will provide the necessary heat to squeeze the excess fat out of those wings without overcooking or drawing the the meat or the skin there 24 pieces of chicken each one with plenty of room for steam to get in and around now speaking of steam we will bring to boil and your largest pot about an inch and a half of water and we'll bring that down to just a simmer and then lower in our luscious payload cover and I figure that 10 minutes should do the job just long enough for me to put away all these fans time to evacuate there's gonna be a good bit of steam so Don protection and open the lid away ah very good set those aside and can see by looking down in the water see all that schmaltz in there that means that we've rendered out a considerable amount of fat now once you akule these guys down I think that's a little tall for the refrigerator so we'll move them to a half sheet pan and cooling rack with a little bit of paper towel because those are gonna keep dripping now that they have chilled slide your wings into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes oh and you're gonna want to trade out that paper towel for some parchment paper paper towels don't like high temperatures now let's talk sauce so we need three ounces of melted butter that's six tablespoons or three quarters of a stick now the microwave is the right tool for this mission but you want to avoid high power which can cause geyser like explosions as the water inside the butter begins to boil cutting into pieces helps with this as well while you're at it you might as well go ahead and toss in a cloves worth of minced garlic now make sure you mix this along with one half teaspoon of kosher salt in a big ol bowl big enough to to accommodate the tossing of the wings and of course if you want to up the garlic you could throw in another one maybe two minced cloves at this time there now whisk to combine in order for the sauce to properly marry with the skin it is imperative that this step be done while the wings are still hot the nice thing about this particular method is that even once saturated with sauce the skins will remain crispy you\n"