Chicken Wing Question

[jfmorris]

Ok, I know this might be blasphemy here, but my plan for grilled buffalo wings tomorrow for our Christmas with the kids is out, due to 100% rain. I could drag the grill across the bag yard to the pavilion by the pool, but it’s been raining today too, and it’s just a soggy mess. Welcome to a Winter in the South!

So, I am making the decision now to just fry my wings, and I may be radical and do a batter for extra crunch. As we’ve seen in our French fry discussion lately, frying things twice is the route to the best results, and that is how I normally roll with wings. I par fry the wings at 325, then pull, and after a rest of at least 5 minutes do the final fry at 375.

Would I get good results if I decide to do the first fry at 8am, before church, and let the wings then sit covered in the fridge until 3pm and do the second fry? Or do I just need to man up and do back to back fries?

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter. Just looking for a way to speed things up when we get here with the kids.

[jfmorris]

Ok, I answered my own question with Kenji’s help over here:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/the-food-lab-how-to-make-best-buffalo-wings-fry-again-ultimate-crispy-deep-fried-buffalo-wings.html

Looks like my plan to fry in the morning and refrigerate is sound, and the second fry close to dinner time will be just fine.

[fzxdoc]

Kenji saves the day. Let us know how it turns out. I like Attjack 's method of smoking then deep frying wings. But Kenji's confit/fried method is alluring. Must give it a go.

Thanks for the link!

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

fzxdoc Kathryn, a local restaurant has smoked wings that are fried to finish, and they are amazing. I’ll try that some time, but likely not today. I’m off to par-fry or confit or whatever the wings now.

Jim

[Jerod Broussard]

I'd do it early. Dad re-fries Popeye's. I like to sous vide ahead of time and refrigerate, then drop in 400-F oil to crisp.

[jfmorris]

Heading to the kitchen now, thanks!

[scottranda]

I just posted another comment on my other thread. For the fries, I did the double fry and that worked out great. BUT, for those wings, I just fried them up in a single "go" and they were super crispy! So, I think you’ll be good with whatever method you choose. Following Kenji and Jerod’s advice are always good ideas too!

[RustyHaines]

Now see, if you were up north here the rain would be snow and you could then use a sled or other flat bottomed unit to move your stuff about. Winter is not all bad !

[jfmorris]

Haha, yes - if the ground were frozen instead of in the 40’s, the backyard wouldn’t be a muddy mess for sure.

[RonB]

Thanx for the link! I'm gonna do this - soon. I am thinking that I will do some breaded and some without breading. I really like a crispy coating on my chicken, but Kenji's method does sound great...

[jfmorris]

I ended up doing the initial fry this morning in 325F oil, I dredged the wings in a 50/50 mix of flour and corn starch, they look crispy, but are chilling in the fridge until 5pm when I will turn on the burner under the my Lodge dutch oven again.

[JoeSousa]

I have used that method from Kenji before. You basically confit the wings on the first fry. The wings were very crispy after the second fry. Not sure I really prefer the method over just frying once but they were very good.

[jfmorris]

Wings turned out real good, and are a distant memory now. I miss them already, haha!

I had trouble getting the oil in the dutch oven above 375 on my gas stove, never got to 400. Maybe I wasn’t patient enough, but it worked. I just had to fry a little longer. This is another case where if I could cook outside, I would have used my 65K BTU outdoor burner.

[scottranda]

Glad it was successful!