Frying chikkin wings - when to season?

[realdocBBQ]

Thaw first, salt, dry brine, then fry? Then seasoning/rub/sauce?

Or just fry nekkid, salt as soon as they come out of the oil, then add dry rub seasoning?

Or salt and season first, then fry?


My thought is the seasoning will mostly come off in the oil, or can burn in the oil.

How do you do it?



I think I want chikkin wings tonight, and the best I can come up with to use is my enameled cast iron Dutch oven. I'm thinking just fry first, then salt when removed from oil, then toss in a dry rub.

What's your vote/advice?

I gotta go to the store and find some decent-sized wings. I might be open to fresh wings, I'll trim 'em, they'll cook quicker and I think I'll get larger size, probably, rather than frozen wing sections. Everything depends on what I can find at Aldi and WalMart. <sigh>


<edit> This will be on the outside propane burner.

[Hulagn1971]

Yep, fry first then season as soon as they come out. I toss in a big SS bowl with seasoning.

[Spinaker]

Yep

[WI Bubba]

+1

[SheilaAnn]

+2

[jfmorris]

Unless you have time for a dry brine of salt only, seasoning is a waste of time before frying chicken wings. All the spices will come off in the oil. Unless you plan to bread then, and put seasoning in the batter or breading. If we are talking good ole crispy skin-only buffalo style wings, tossed in your sauce or seasoning after frying.

If I am frying a LOT of wings, I find I get the best (crispiest) results if I "par" fry them first in 325F oil for a few minutes, in batches, piling them on a sheet pan as I go to let them drain. I then do a second fry at 375F to finish them. On that fry, I can fit abotu twice as many in the dutch oven or deep fryer, and get them done faster. Let sit for a minute before tossing in sauce, and you are golden.

I've done 10-15 pounds of wings for the family using this method, and it can be exhausting standing over the hot oil that long. If I fry, its for the wife and I. If its more people than that, they get grilled...

[Jfrosty27]

Vortex wings on the Weber kettle. The only way to fly. 😉

[realdocBBQ]

I still need to order a Vortex...

[Purc]

realdocBBQ I use the Weber Kettle and Vortex (small opening up) with chicken wings, thighs, drums, quarters all the time. I also turn the large opening up on the Vortex to cook a steak over high heat.

[RonB]

Too late for today, but I suggest buying wings the day before and dry brine uncovered in the fridge. That will help a lot with crisping naked wings.

[realdocBBQ]

I bought some fresh whole wings. Cutting them up, gonna toss liberally with salt, then some baking soda and cornstarch (lightly) and set on racks in the fridge. I've got an hour or two before I fry.

[Spinaker]

When frying you really do not need to at all. (Baking and grilling this is not the case) That oil will get those wings crispy as all get out. Baking soda also can degrade your oil.

[Steve B]

Never ever salt mine before during or after.
Deep fry @325ish for 10min. Remove, let rest for about 5min and back into the fryer for 2-3min. I also usually don’t sauce. I dip wings into sauce as I eat them. They stay crispy this way. Perfect every time. Actually just took out a batch from the fryer as I’m typing this.

[realdocBBQ]

No salt? At all?


Noooooooo..... lol

[Spinaker]

This guy knows his fryer. Everything I know about frying comes from Steve and HouseHomey (Unfortunately, it is incumbent on me to give credit where credit is due. 😁)

[HouseHomey]

Spinaker …… realdocBBQ While I would normally agree Steve has his craft down perfectly in o his taste… remember no rules in the kitchen or bedroom. You like what you like

[Spinaker]

Always fry first then Toss in sauce and/or rub. Rubs burn in the oil and can foul it up, especially if you are using it over and over again.

I ate wings 3-5 times a week last summer. I had this down!

I am with Steve, I never salt the wings. I will put them on a rack and pat them dry to keep the splatter down once I drop them in them fryer.

[JCBBQ]

Missed this but next time try this. It’s for Korean fried wings - THE most crispy and crunchy wings. I generally used a gochujang sauce but dealers choice but DO try this batter. They literally stay crunchy the next day… if there are any left. You’ll think the batter is too watery. It’s not. Trust the recipe. It’s great.

[Steve B]

This is similar to the wings you would get at a Chinese restaurant. Also very good.

[jfmorris]

I second this. I watched and rewound and rewatched an episode of America's Test Kitchen in order to get their Korean fried chicken recipe down. Later I did a 1 year subscription and was able to pull it into Paprika.

[realdocBBQ]

Well, I did them last night. God, took forever. Also fried cheese sticks, eggrolls and shrimp. Shrimp was last.

Fried the wings in a 5 (or 7?) quart stock pot on the stove. No pots big enough to sit safely on my propane fryer. Need to remedy that, for sure.

Fried at 325ish in batches of 6, maybe 8-10 minutes each. Temped to 185-195. Pulled, rested on a rack while I did the rest.

Then turned up the heat and got it up to just about 360. This is as hot as I can get it on my stove, on the big burner (induction), turned up to the 'power boil' setting. Once adding the wings, again in batches of 6-8, was only able to maintain about 350, this is with putting a lid on it. Fried each batch again for 6-7 minutes, trying to get them as crisp as possible.

They came out ok, Decent, but probably a little overdone, not really crispy skin. Maybe a little, but not really notably crispy.

Obviously, they need to be fried hotter, but my stove just won't do it. I have the big propane burner, but just don't have a pot I can use on it yet. I'll have to get something.

Salted after coming out of oil and drizzled with a little garlic/parmesan butter I melted and then drizzled with a little buffalo sauce (1/2 butter and 1/2 Frank's hot sauce). Good, but not spectacular.

I definitely need to work on this. But damn. I spent an hour and a half (or more?) standing over the stove. Temps with my Thermapen One.

[jfmorris]

Now you get why I stopped using my deep fryer unless frying wings for 2!

An electric deep fryer will do a good job, and will hold more than 6 wings at a time, but probably maxes at 375, or at least mine does.

I fry in a 6 quart electric fryer, or a 5 quart dutch oven if on the stove. I think the cast iron helps keep the temperature from dropping too much. I'm on a gas stove here.

For outside, I do have 2 gallon and 5 gallon cheap stainless stock pots. Next step for me is 15.5 gallons.

[Spinaker]

Come to the dark side….me and Steve B won’t bite.

https://cajunfryer.co/