The Great Chicken Wing Debate .

[Teddy KGB]

11 hours ago, dayman said:

Always extra crispy

 always hot

 always blue cheese

 always straight buffalo…with rare exception if you have to mix it up for mango habenero

 

 

 anyone doing bbq in ranch should be shot on the spot

there’s some excellent garlic parm out there at some places.  
 

 

[Gugny]

I swear by the double fry method. 
 

Fry the wings at low temp (225-250) for about 20 minutes. There should be minimal bubbling. The goal is to cook the meat, but not crisp the skin. 
 

Put the wings on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels and stick ‘em in the fridge overnight. 
 

When you’re ready to chow down, crank your fryer to its highest temp and flash fry the wings (maybe 5 minutes) to crisp the skin whilst keeping the meat moist and juicy. 
 

Sauce ‘em up and suck ‘em down. 

[T master]

19 hours ago, Bray Wyatt said:

 

 

You found good wings down here in middle TN?? Moved here in 2020 (Murfreesboro) and have yet to find a good spot!

 

It was probably a luck thing, it was a convenient store but i was hungry & i thought i'll go for it . I didn't have any stomach issues after eating them & they were surprisingly very good but i won't bet on it next time i go by that place if i do find a good place i'll pass it on to the wing connoisseur's around this area .

[PBF81]

20 hours ago, yall said:

Naked.

Medium size (jumbos are getting out of control).

Traditional Buffalo sauce, as hot as you can make it.

 

As long as they have good flavor.  Heat without the flavor is useless.  

 

 

[T master]

19 hours ago, zow2 said:

 

My teenage son is more partial to BBQ wings (hickory smoked flavor) than traditional Buffalo sauce.  I have to say, when dipped in blue cheese the BBQ wings are darn good.  It's a nice change of pace.  When we get wings nowadays I'm always including an order of BBQ.  

 

If you ever get back up around Buffalo you need to take your son to Lanova pizzeria . They have barbecue wing on their menu that if ordered extra crispy is out of this world good ! I never had them until we were driving through town & another driver had to stop & get some then i understood why .

 

Oh and their pizza at Lanova's is pretty dam good to if i do say so !! 

[PBF81]

20 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

Other topics not in OP, but are of personal notes:

https://www.seriouseats.com/ultimate-extra-crispy-double-fried-confit-buffalo-wings

Has to be the double fry: cook in oil low, 225-250 for about half an hour. Drain and cool, freeze batches in advance. This cooks the meat inside without overcooking it and dries out the skin.

 

Heat oil to 375-400 F and fry until golden brown.

 

Best crunch and sauce adhesion I have even seen.

 

Try connection baking (air-frying) them instead.  Then cool & freeze.  Use a raised bottom off you can.

 

That gets the moisture out so that when you get them they'll come out perfectly as well.  Works great for volume in a restaurant on busy days like SB Sunday.  

 

 

[BigDingus]

I've been corrupted... used to be all about naked wings only, but recently I've found myself enjoying breaded every now & then. 

 

Even worse, it was crappy Hooters wings that started this recent change to the dark side...

 

A friend had a bunch of wings from Hooters at his place, and I was hungry enough to grab some. Despite being delivered, they still tasted crispy & hot, and I'm a sucker for that traditional Buffalo sauce smell.

 

Ever since then, I've found myself flip flopping between naked & breaded. I may need to hang up my Buffalo card... If I ever start dipping in ranch, I'll be forced to become a Phins fan as punishment 🤢🤮

Edited December 21, 2023 by BigDingus

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

2 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Try connection baking (air-frying) them instead.  Then cool & freeze.  Use a raised bottom off you can.

 

That gets the moisture out so that when you get them they'll come out perfectly as well.  Works great for volume in a restaurant on busy days like SB Sunday.  

 

 

My only quibble is that I don't have a convection oven (yet) and I refuse to buy an on the counter air fryer when i have too many cooking gadgets already. So the next house. Because that method makes perfect sense to me and sounds like a perfect option for large batch preparation before high volume day.

 

The oil has the advantage of the fact that I need to use it anyway to fry in the end stage but it comes with a major downside: if you want to use the same oil you have to heat the hell out of it to get the lingering moisture out

 

It's nice chatting with people who take wings seriously 

4 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

I've been corrupted... used to be all about naked wings only, but recently I've found myself enjoying breaded every now & then. 

 

Even worse, it was crappy Hooters wings that started this recent change to the dark side...

 

A friend had a bunch of wings from Hooters at his place, and I was hungry enough to grab some. Despite being delivered, they were still tasted crispy & hot, and I'm a sucker for that traditional Buffalo sauce smell.

 

Ever since then, I've found myself flip flopping between naked & breaded. I may need to hang up my Buffalo card... If I ever start dipping in ranch, I'll be forced to become a Phins fan as punishment 🤢🤮

For me, there are degrees.

 

Naked is classic. But I think a thin and carefully chosen coating can give you the crunch without the downsides.

 

And then you get travesties like this "well regarded local place" in my town.

 

F'n travesty that is.

[PBF81]

18 hours ago, The Avenger said:

Can't really find decent wings here in Massachusetts and everything is so expensive. 

 

I get fresh wings at the grocery store (large to XL) - enough to make 16 wings for about $8. I cut the drums from the flats from the tips and boil them in super hot vegetable oil until brown and crispy. I use a sauce from Moore's which us good and heat it up with some habanero sauce. 

 

Rules:

 

No breading

No baking - deep fry

No under-cooking - gotta be crispy

Buffalo sauce - don't hit me with some weird pineapple sauce

Blue cheese if desired - ranch is for toddler's chicken nuggets

Wings should not cost $2 each

 

DJ's in Barnstable on the Cape are on point!

 

 

[Just Jack]

I prefer a bigger wing.  Breading, it depends on if I'm in the mood for it.  

 

Side story, back in the late 1980's, after spent a semester in WNY at college where I first found out about wings, I came home to find my local sub shop advertising they had wings.  Excitedly I ordered.  What did I get?  Full size drum sticks and wings.  Never ordered wings from them again.  

Edited December 21, 2023 by Just Jack

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

39 minutes ago, Gugny said:

I swear by the double fry method. 
 

Fry the wings at low temp (225-250) for about 20 minutes. There should be minimal bubbling. The goal is to cook the meat, but not crisp the skin. 
 

Put the wings on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels and stick ‘em in the fridge overnight. 
 

When you’re ready to chow down, crank your fryer to its highest temp and flash fry the wings (maybe 5 minutes) to crisp the skin whilst keeping the meat moist and juicy. 
 

Sauce ‘em up and suck ‘em down. 

yeah that is the best result I've even got. You can load up at the first stage too then smaller batch fry

[Just Jack]

13 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

I've been corrupted... used to be all about naked wings only, but recently I've found myself enjoying breaded every now & then. 

 

Even worse, it was crappy Hooters wings that started this recent change to the dark side...

 

A friend had a bunch of wings from Hooters at his place, and I was hungry enough to grab some. Despite being delivered, they were still tasted crispy & hot, and I'm a sucker for that traditional Buffalo sauce smell.

 

Ever since then, I've found myself flip flopping between naked & breaded. I may need to hang up my Buffalo card... If I ever start dipping in ranch, I'll be forced to become a Phins fan as punishment 🤢🤮

 

My Hooters story.  One day years ago (when Syracuse still had a Hooters in the mall) I was in the mood for some breaded wings and went there to place a to-go order, 50 wings.  They said it would be about 30 minutes so I went and did some shopping.  Come back and they can't find any record of my order.  Eventually they figured out that order system they use, the paper on a wire into the kitchen method, my order paper fell onto the floor and no one noticed.  The manager added an extra 25 wings onto my order and any drinks I wanted at the bar while I waited.  Worth it.  I had wings for days.  

[Kwai San]

Naked

Medium Size

Fried if out - In my Air Fryer if at home, this season I have been @ home for quite a few games!  Not an easy task in SoFlo

Carrots

Blue Cheese

Hot but not crazy hot - altho I have had some yummy smoked BBQ wings as well.  I am a Ho!

Saucy

Edited December 21, 2023 by Kwai San

[PBF81]

23 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

And then you get travesties like this "well regarded local place" in my town.

 

F'n travesty that is.

 

Are you in Philly?

 

I have family in that region and haven't found good wings around there yet.  

 

What's that place?  I may have been there.  

 

 

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

12 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Are you in Philly?

 

I have family in that region and haven't found good wings around there yet.  

 

What's that place?  I may have been there.  

 

 

Yeah, the Jersey part of the Philly suburbs.

 

That particular place is called Southwood and would be an ideal dive were it not for the travesty of wings.

 

I have a few places I have been to that I find tolerable: the Jug Handle Inn and Warwick Tavern bread theirs but not too badly and they have good sauce.

 

I have tried Golden Nugget, Schileens, and Dominics and was unimpressed. Mount Royal Inn had the proper fry (the owners are WNY ex-pats) but the sauce was subpar. 

 

There was a placed called Miss Heavens right by me that was supposed to be "best in the state" and I literally spit some of it out. I sometimes literally dip my finger into salt, and their lemon pepper was too salty for me and the Buffalo was a disappointment. 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by WhitewalkerInPhilly

[Sherlock Holmes]

Parboil then bake at 350 until crispness level desired is reached! Drums are at least 50 times better than flats BTW. Perfect crispness can be attained without having to taste only fryer oil.

 

If a soggy floppy wing touches my mouth ever again...ask my wife what happened when she dunked such a wing (flat of course)in ranch and had me take a bite...

 

CHUNKY ASS BLEU CHEESE BABY!!!!

 

ps. Don't get mad guys but there's a possibility Thousand Island is a legit dipping sauce for wings (in between Bleu Cheese dips of course)...it's definitely better than ranch in an emergency such as when a restaurant gives you that with your salad and your wife doesn't notice they forgot your Bleu Cheese and you live miles away from them and the game is already started.

[PBF81]

13 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

Yeah, the Jersey part of the Philly suburbs.

 

That particular place is called Southwood and would be an ideal dive were it not for the travesty of wings.

 

I have a few places I have been to that I find tolerable: the Jug Handle Inn and Warwick Tavern bread theirs but not too badly and they have good sauce.

 

I have tried Golden Nugget, Schileens, and Dominics and was unimpressed. Mount Royal Inn had the proper fry (the owners are WNY ex-pats) but the sauce was subpar. 

 

There was a placed called Miss Heavens right by me that was supposed to be "best in the state" and I literally spit some of it out. I sometimes literally dip my finger into salt, and their lemon pepper was too salty for me and the Buffalo was a disappointment. 

 

 

 

I think I've been to the Warwick Tavern in the past.

 

When I go somewhere I'll typically Google "best Wings ..." and evaluate from there.

 

If the comments are all about how great the breading is, that takes that off the list.  LOL 

 

I make my own these days.  

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by PBF81

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

Just now, PBF81 said:

 

I think I've been to the Warwick Tavern in the past.

 

When I go somewhere I'll typically Google "best Wings ..." and evaluate from there.

 

If the comments are all about how great the breading is, that takes that off the list.  LOL 

 

I make my own these days.  

 

 

Honestly, I am with you. Anchor Bar ships their sauce over Amazon. Our home cooking methods get us a superior product so I should just stick to that rather than be continually disappointed.

 

Unless we want to make our own Wing Shop...

[PBF81]

1 minute ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

Honestly, I am with you. Anchor Bar ships their sauce over Amazon. Our home cooking methods get us a superior product so I should just stick to that rather than be continually disappointed.

 

Unless we want to make our own Wing Shop...

 

Less expensive than eating out too.  

 

Homemade Bleu is much better too.  

 

 

[hondo in seattle]

19 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Buffalo wings are amazing!

 

But hear me out....

 

Thai or vietnamese Fish sauce wings are out of this world good. A completely different flavor profile obviously.  But if you have never tried them please do. You will be blown away by the sweet and tangy taste! 

 

I've had Thai and Vietnamese wings many times.  The quality/taste depends on the restaurant.  But at their best, they are very, very good.  

 

Korean and Chinese wings can be really good, too.  

 

And I once ate at a Brazilian chicken restaurant that specialized in wings.  The wings themselves were crispy but somewhat bland.  But they gave you an assortment of dipping sauces - some of which were great.