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Here’s a lower fat version of your favorite spicy poultry. While looking for guidance on how to make a good hot wing sauce, I came across many recipes that said to just melt a stick of butter into a bottle of prepackaged sauce. Hot sauce is clearly the most important component in every hot wing recipe, so I had to do better than that. The results of my experiment, as well as the process, have thrilled me and are sure to do the same for you. // by Lauren Yarborough Nikolas
INGREDIENTS:
– 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar (white distilled works just fine too)
– 1/4 cup water
– 1 whole red bell pepper
– 1 seeded jalapeño
– 1 cayenne pepper
– 1 clove of garlic
– 1 tablespoon honey or agave
– 2 tablespoons brown sugar
– 2 teaspoons salt
– 1 teaspoon cornstarch
– 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
– 2 drops of butter flavoring
– 2 1/2 pounds of chicken wings and dummies, thawed
MASTERING THE SAUCE
TO START, dice and seed peppers taking extra care with the jalapeño and cayenne. You may want to put on a pair of plastic gloves when you handle them. Next put the peppers and the clove of garlic in a blender with the vinegar and liquefy. If you only have dried cayenne peppers available you can still add them to the blender at this time. The skin will soften and flavor the vinegar in the next step.
Once the ingredients are blended, pour them into a medium saucepan. Simmer on medium-low heat until the mixture reduces slightly and thickens a little bit. I do not recommend taking a big whiff of this stuff while it’s steaming unless you need to clear your sinuses, or feel like crying a little bit. At this point you can use a small strainer to clear the mixture of any little pieces of pepper skin, and seeds if you wish. Now add the honey, brown sugar, salt, cornstarch, and smoked paprika to the cooked pepper mixture. Simmer on medium-low until everything thickens into a sauce. Now add your butter avoring. Yield: 1 1⁄4 cups sauce.
BRING ON THE CHICKEN
PREHEAT YOUR OVEN to 425 de-grees. While the oven is heating, parboil your chicken (partially boil) for about 10 minutes, and then pat dry on a paper towel. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil so that the skin will get nice and crisp, and bake uncovered in a deep baking dish for about 15 minutes. When done, the wings should have a light golden hue. Now ladle your sauce over the chicken until each piece is evenly covered and sauce is pooling around them. Cover the chicken with sauce in foil and bake for 10 more minutes. It’s time to enjoy your plate of gourmet, spicy- sweet hot wings along side a stick of crisp celery!
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