Chicken Wing

Forget marinades—who has time to think ahead anymore? The easiest, fastest, and, yes, we're calling it, best method for adding some pizzazz to your grilled chicken is to toss it quickly in a sauce after it's been cooked. Come on, guys, it's the secret behind Buffalo chicken wings! Everybody loves wings, so alert your friends to come on over for a backyard wing feed. Make as many sauces as you'd like, and let each person embellish their wings the way they want. Each sauce makes enough to coat all 9 pounds of wings, so if you make all five sauces, you might want to downsize them, or make the full amount and use them in other ways. The vinaigrettes would be terrific as salad dressings, and the rest would punch up grilled or roasted pork or beef and do absolute wonders for tofu.

Properly grilled chicken is a pleasure, even when you dress it with nothing but lemon juice—or even salt. But if you make this Ligurian-inspired full-flavored dipping sauce based on anchovies, you can turn the simple grilled chicken into something really special. And the sauce can be used for whatever else you’re serving at the same time. When you’re grilling the chicken, don’t build too hot a fire and keep part of the grill cool—don’t put any fuel under it at all—so you can move the pieces over to it in the (likely) event of flare-ups. And you can broil it if you prefer: adjust the broiling rack so that it is about four to six inches from the heat source and turn the meat as it browns.

There are as many green sauces in the world as there are red ones, and this is one of my favorites. Fresh tomatillos are best for this dish, and those, like pepitas (pumpkin seeds) are increasingly easy to find. Though it’s probably at its best with Arroz a la Mexicana (page 517), you can serve this with almost any rice dish.

I had the best Japanese-style chicken wings at the Gonpachi Restaurant in Tokyo. They arrived at the table crackling on a little hibachi grill. Salty, sweet, and aromatic, they were great with chilled sake. To me, this is perfect contemporary Japanese cooking.

PAT I absolutely love making my grilled hot wings. Gina calls me the grill master: I’m a grill king and a wingman. There is nothing better than wings with a smoky grilled flavor mingling with a sweet, spicy, and creamy dipping sauce. One of the best things about living in Memphis is that we can grill year- round, even on a 35-degree day (which is the normal temperature on Super Bowl Sunday). Grilling wings can be completed in a 10-minute period outside, so even if it’s chilly out, you can stand it!

Although technically an appetizer, these stuffed wings are also a convenient main course at lunch—down two of them and I guarantee you’ll be happily full for at least 4 hours. The technique here takes a little practice; don’t forget to use a very sharp knife. I promise you, your efforts will be worthwhile: this dish never fails to impress. If you have any leftover rice, you can eat it on its own as a side dish, stuff it into grape leaves for a Mediterranean twist, or steam inside a corn husk for a delicious Japanese-style “tamale.”

Many Southern families, mine included, have recipes that use Coca-Cola, most often shortened to “Co-Cola.” Mama still occasionally makes her Coca-Cola cake and Meme would sometimes use Coke when she baked her Easter ham. These nouveau Southern wings are by no means traditional, but they are lip-smacking good and garnered me a Golden Whisk Award from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of the best recipes of 2005. The sweetness of the Coke, combined with the heat of the peppers, is incredible. Wing pieces are available at most supermarkets, but look for whole wings. Not only are these wings less expensive, but the tips may also be used to prepare chicken stock (page 227).

Once you’ve made these for friends or family, plan on making them regularly. Even without a football game on TV, somebody will always have a craving for these and won’t let up until you make them again. Serve alongside celery and carrot sticks with blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping. If you need even more heat, serve with a side of SriRANCHa dressing (page 20).

To me, chicken wings are a delicacy. That’s not because they’re rare—believe me when I tell you that I eat them often—but because they’re probably my favorite part of the yard bird. Wings are unique because you get two experiences in one: a drumette and what I call the “flat.” That’s two handles on one piece of meat for you to hold on to and enjoy. Wings also take very little time to prepare and cook. All you have to know is that before you cook them you have to cut off the tip, which is attached to the outer flat part of the joint. Using kitchen shears is an easy way to just lop it off—or use a sharp knife—and if you don’t feel like throwing them away, put the tips in your freezer for the next time someone’s making stock or soup.

These may resemble traditional Buffalo wings in appearance, but a blend of soy sauce, tahini, ginger, garlic, and Asian chile sauce (available at Asian markets) makes these wings major-killer. This sauce is bangin’ and can be used on grilled anything. Instead of typical celery and blue cheese, a cool side of cucumbers, Greek-style yogurt, and fresh mint finishes this dish.

If there is one fruit whose flavor melds perfectly with chicken, it is the apricot, but incorporating juice or fruit chunks into barbecue sauce can give grilled foods a charred fruit flavor. The alternative is a fruity marinade that can be tasted throughout the meat, not just on the skin. The recipe gives fruit lovers (and wing lovers) the best of both worlds in one simple step, as the marinade forms a sweet glaze while the chicken cooks.

Capon soup is an Italian holiday tradition, but I like to use at least a little capon every time I make stock. I buy a capon, cut it in pieces, and freeze the pieces separately. When I make chicken stock, I add a piece or two of the frozen capon. I also add some turkey wings when I make chicken stock—I think it adds richness of flavor. The tomato (or paste) adds a little color and balances the sweetness of the carrot.

Unreal! Forget Buffalo wings—not only are these healthier than deep-fried wings and way lower in fat, they simply are the best chicken wings you’ll ever have! They are super, über-snacks that can be a simple supper, with salad or veggies on the side. The only carbs come from natural juice and honey. Unlike the small, snipped wings served in some bars and restaurants, homemade wings are larger and have more meat. Allow three or four for a full dinner portion per person, though my sweetie and I can eat all twelve if we’re watching a double feature that night!

This may seem like an unorthodox flavor profile, but roast chicken brine is delicious. Just as chicken stock is used as the base for myriad soups, this roast chicken brine pairs well with a variety of vegetables and fish. Unsurprisingly, it is also amazing with chicken and turkey. We are lucky enough to be able to buy inexpensive chicken backs at our local Whole Foods. If you can’t get backs or if wings are too expensive, chicken legs or thighs are sometimes an economical substitute. Even if you prefer to eat white meat, using dark meat for the brine will give you the most flavor.

When I was in Paris, I got in touch with Anita Hausser, Jacqueline’s daughter. We met at a café in Paris to chat. The conversation turned into lunch, then finally extended into a dinner on another occasion in her charming and very French apartment, near the Maison de la Radio in Auteuil. For dinner, the first course was Alsatian goose liver spread on grilled bread, accompanied by champagne. Sometimes, she told me, she slathers the marrow from the cooked bones on the toast instead, sprinkling it with coarse salt. At the dinner we ate as a first course the broth from the pot-au-feu with tiny knepfle (matzo balls), to the delight of her very assimilated French Jewish guests. A century or so ago, in small villages of Alsace, the pot-au-feu cauldron of vegetables and meat would hang on a hook in the chimney to simmer slowly all night. I imagine religious Jews placing it there before the Sabbath began, and going to sleep with the tantalizing aromas of meat and vegetables as the fire slowly turned to embers and died out, leaving the pot still warm. When Anita makes her pot-au-feu, she cooks the meat slowly with the vegetables, which she discards toward the end. She then adds fresh carrots, leeks, and turnips, cut in chunks, for the last 30 minutes of cooking. She always accompanies her pot-au-feu with horseradish, mustard, and gherkins. This slowcooked dish is traditionally made in Jewish homes for Rosh Hashanah and the Sabbath.

Chef Daniel Rose starts his day in the kitchen at 7:30 a.m. He begins with the chicken broth, first browning chicken wings, then adding a wine reduction, and then water, leeks, and other aromatics, but never carrots. “This isn’t the way my grandmother would have done it,” Daniel told me. “But we don’t want so much sweetness in our soup.” He doesn’t bother with a bouquet garni: “I just stick the herbs in the pot.” Freeze any broth that you don’t use right away.

Chicken wings are a very popular mezze item. They should be quite lemony and garlicky. You eat them with your fingers.

Chicken wings don’t have to be just chicken wings. This teriyaki glaze is incredibly easy to make and turns a boring concept into something sophisticated.

Talk about addictive. My director of creative development, Greg Brainin, created these, and I can't get enough of them. For a double dose of heat, fresh chile slices cling to the fiery sauce on the crisp wings.