Serious Eats Oven Fried Buffalo Wings

[bezwong]

Hey all, i made this a while ago and decided to post this late.

This was the recipe that i used as recommended by a member from the forums

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...gs-recipe.html

Not a lot of pictures, was too busy eating.

Here they are: https://imgur.com/a/x2MU4

It had a slight crisp to it and i ate it with franks red hot sauce.

Dad liked it, so i think it was a success

The Cook

Got the chicken wings / drums package from costco

When i got back home i washed them (which i probably shouldn't have done).

Dried them with paper towels, although i don't think it was dry enough.

Then we threw in some baking powder, a lot more than the recipe recommended. Added some salt.

We left them in the fridge over night for like 12-14 hours

When i checked the skin that was sticking to the baking rack

I was surprised to see a greenish mold. (Edit: i don't know if it's mold, but it was discolored, and it appeared over night)

So we put them in to cook for 20 minutes to soften the skin and then took them out to cook out the moldy spots.

I read some of the comments from other people on the recipe page and another person had a similar problem

Anyone know of a solution to this? I'm thinking i should air dry less time, maybe flipping once.

And another is to not wash it and paper towel the heck out of it.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Um....green mold??? Your sure it was mold? IMO if I was sure it was mold I would throw them out and order Pizza.
I only dry brine for a couple hours with salt only. I’ll wash then pat dry and add my salt, set in fridge a couple hours (2-4). Then i’ll smoke for 30 mins at 300. Now when my guest arrive I deep fry then coat with sauce.

[bezwong]

I honestly have no clue if it is mold. All i know is that it's green and it's not supposed to be there haha!

It could be some metallic reaction, i dunno.

Okay so i'll try air drying for a shorter time. That would make it more easier

[jfmorris]

If that’s mold I think you need to really check the rest of your refrigerator. No way that should grow just overnight. It has to be coming from somewhere. Also, I don’t air out Wings or turkeys like in your other post uncovered, even in the fridge. Too much risk of cross contamination. I would cover it up while marinating or brining.

[bezwong]

The weird part was it only happened to the bottom half of the chicken / turkey that was touching the metal rack. By cross contamination you mean by leaky juices? Any clue if it can contaminate through air?

[jfmorris]

I have 5 or more people shoving stuff in and out of the fridge, so its not an issue of contamination through the air, as much as someone other than me being careless and allowing something else to touch the raw meat. Not to mention the possibility of the meat picking up the aroma of leftovers in the fridge. I think sblair1255 is onto something here, as you would not get mold this fast.

[sblair1255]

Can't be positive but I bet it was yoursalt/soda combination reacting with the type of metal from the rack you used. I have seem something similar happen to salted air drying meat that is loosely covered with foil. Certain spots the foil seems to melt or break down from the salt. If it was only on the part where your chicken contacted metal, I'm betting your rack was the problem.

[jfmorris]

That's a good point. Salt or the baking powder could certainly react with certain metals.

[Potkettleblack]

I think that's not mold. Did it look like a green bruise? If so, that's pretty much what it is.

Chickens get some green bruising when stressed, and it tends to happen in the meat where it's pressed against containers or racks.

Something in the recipe is fostering this reaction.

[Jerod Broussard]

Wings and drums (legs) are notorious for bruising.

[EdF]

But I notice he had the same green marks on his turkey thread, so I suspect that rack needs to be replaced.

[Spinaker]

It could also be marking dye. In beef and pork it is usually a blue/purplish color. It may have been there before, you just missed it. Dry brining usually makes these things more visible.

Mold will not develop that quickly on the surface of the meat. Certainly not overnight.

Just a thought.

[bezwong]

Interesting...I had a feeling it may have been the rack but wasn't entirely sure. So a combination of salt and baking powder could facilitate the reaction. Next time maybe i will use parchment paper or just not use that rack at all.

And yes the turkey did have some bruising, but it was very few...in addition i didn't use any baking powder on turkey at all.

So maybe it is the stress, golly i'll have to experiment with this.

If anyone has more information I'd appreciate it

[Polarbear777]

I’d replace the rack with a new stainless one. I routinely dry brine chicken 12-24 hours with no issues (other then the dryer it gets the crispier the skin)
you usually have to dedicate a fridge shelf to avoid anything contacting it.

I’ve made this recipe several times to great effect. It doesn’t beat deep frying but darn close. Easier than dealing with fry oil but cleaning the rack afterwards isn’t fun.

I use a 50/50 mix by volume of butter and franks red hot. I get the sauce hot and toss the finished wings in the sauce then back on the rack and back in the oven for 5 minutes. Then toss in the sauce one last time. Seems to get better adhesion that way.

[bezwong]

Oh nice! Good to hear you've had good results. If i find out the racks are the culprit, i may get them replaced.

Yeah i have to agree with you, scrubbing the racks afterward isn't fun.

What's funny is i have one of those deep fryers but we haven't even used it ONCE.

I sometimes do 2 parts franks and 1 part butter of a half and half split. Double saucing sounds like a good idea.

[gcdmd]

I don't think this article explains the problem bezwong had, but it is along the same general line and interesting from a scientific and food safety angle.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/what-causes-beef-rainbows/273534/

[bezwong]

Interesting, i actually saw beef rainbows before and i thought. What the heck? That looks like the glow on a fish! Thanks for sharing

[gcdmd]

You bet.