Chicken Wing

Once you’ve made these for friends or family, plan on making them regularly. Even without a football game on TV, somebody will always have a craving for these and won’t let up until you make them again. Serve alongside celery and carrot sticks with blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping. If you need even more heat, serve with a side of SriRANCHa dressing (page 20).

To me, chicken wings are a delicacy. That’s not because they’re rare—believe me when I tell you that I eat them often—but because they’re probably my favorite part of the yard bird. Wings are unique because you get two experiences in one: a drumette and what I call the “flat.” That’s two handles on one piece of meat for you to hold on to and enjoy. Wings also take very little time to prepare and cook. All you have to know is that before you cook them you have to cut off the tip, which is attached to the outer flat part of the joint. Using kitchen shears is an easy way to just lop it off—or use a sharp knife—and if you don’t feel like throwing them away, put the tips in your freezer for the next time someone’s making stock or soup.

These may resemble traditional Buffalo wings in appearance, but a blend of soy sauce, tahini, ginger, garlic, and Asian chile sauce (available at Asian markets) makes these wings major-killer. This sauce is bangin’ and can be used on grilled anything. Instead of typical celery and blue cheese, a cool side of cucumbers, Greek-style yogurt, and fresh mint finishes this dish.

For the bones, select a combination of the following: chicken (necks, whole carcasses, wings, or feet), pork (any bone, shanks, necks, split feet, smoked hock, or ham bone), or beef (oxtail or any bones).

For a snack before, during, or after the ball game there is no better food than the chicken wing. The great thing about chicken wings is their versatility. Spicy, sweet, salty, sticky, saucy, or dry are all options when cooking wings on the grill. I generally prefer my chicken wings seasoned with a dry rub and grilled; in my opinion, sauce tends to cover up the crispy, salty-peppery flavor of dry wings. With that said, however, I do love this recipe. The glaze adds flavor that goes way beyond what you would expect from a grilled wing. For those who like a sticky molasses flavor with a fruity edge, you’ve just found your new favorite wing recipe.

If there is one fruit whose flavor melds perfectly with chicken, it is the apricot, but incorporating juice or fruit chunks into barbecue sauce can give grilled foods a charred fruit flavor. The alternative is a fruity marinade that can be tasted throughout the meat, not just on the skin. The recipe gives fruit lovers (and wing lovers) the best of both worlds in one simple step, as the marinade forms a sweet glaze while the chicken cooks.

Gina: They call me the spice fairy on our show, but my husband is the hot man! If you can’t take the heat, you might want to reconsider this dish. Pat: Living in the South, I have, of course, acquired a taste for both spicy food and fried chicken. In fact, I love fried chicken so much that I eat it at least once a week. And the wings happen to be my favorite part of the bird. No cut is more succulent or flavorful, especially when dusted with fiery seasonings, dipped in batter, and fried. To fire up the flavor in this recipe, I season both the wings and the batter with cayenne, red-pepper flakes, black pepper, and even a little hot sauce. Like Gina says, I just can’t seem to get enough spice or fire. I should add that Gina not only understands my fried-chicken affliction, she encourages it, and several years ago, she went so far as to purchase me a countertop fryer. This has made it easy for me to come home any night and fry up some chicken (it has also saved on time and mess). You will definitely want to adjust the heat levels in this recipe. I have to do the same thing at home, because if it’s too hot my girls won’t eat it.

Capon soup is an Italian holiday tradition, but I like to use at least a little capon every time I make stock. I buy a capon, cut it in pieces, and freeze the pieces separately. When I make chicken stock, I add a piece or two of the frozen capon. I also add some turkey wings when I make chicken stock—I think it adds richness of flavor. The tomato (or paste) adds a little color and balances the sweetness of the carrot.

Unreal! Forget Buffalo wings—not only are these healthier than deep-fried wings and way lower in fat, they simply are the best chicken wings you’ll ever have! They are super, über-snacks that can be a simple supper, with salad or veggies on the side. The only carbs come from natural juice and honey. Unlike the small, snipped wings served in some bars and restaurants, homemade wings are larger and have more meat. Allow three or four for a full dinner portion per person, though my sweetie and I can eat all twelve if we’re watching a double feature that night!

This may seem like an unorthodox flavor profile, but roast chicken brine is delicious. Just as chicken stock is used as the base for myriad soups, this roast chicken brine pairs well with a variety of vegetables and fish. Unsurprisingly, it is also amazing with chicken and turkey. We are lucky enough to be able to buy inexpensive chicken backs at our local Whole Foods. If you can’t get backs or if wings are too expensive, chicken legs or thighs are sometimes an economical substitute. Even if you prefer to eat white meat, using dark meat for the brine will give you the most flavor.

When I was in Paris, I got in touch with Anita Hausser, Jacqueline’s daughter. We met at a café in Paris to chat. The conversation turned into lunch, then finally extended into a dinner on another occasion in her charming and very French apartment, near the Maison de la Radio in Auteuil. For dinner, the first course was Alsatian goose liver spread on grilled bread, accompanied by champagne. Sometimes, she told me, she slathers the marrow from the cooked bones on the toast instead, sprinkling it with coarse salt. At the dinner we ate as a first course the broth from the pot-au-feu with tiny knepfle (matzo balls), to the delight of her very assimilated French Jewish guests. A century or so ago, in small villages of Alsace, the pot-au-feu cauldron of vegetables and meat would hang on a hook in the chimney to simmer slowly all night. I imagine religious Jews placing it there before the Sabbath began, and going to sleep with the tantalizing aromas of meat and vegetables as the fire slowly turned to embers and died out, leaving the pot still warm. When Anita makes her pot-au-feu, she cooks the meat slowly with the vegetables, which she discards toward the end. She then adds fresh carrots, leeks, and turnips, cut in chunks, for the last 30 minutes of cooking. She always accompanies her pot-au-feu with horseradish, mustard, and gherkins. This slowcooked dish is traditionally made in Jewish homes for Rosh Hashanah and the Sabbath.

Chef Daniel Rose starts his day in the kitchen at 7:30 a.m. He begins with the chicken broth, first browning chicken wings, then adding a wine reduction, and then water, leeks, and other aromatics, but never carrots. “This isn’t the way my grandmother would have done it,” Daniel told me. “But we don’t want so much sweetness in our soup.” He doesn’t bother with a bouquet garni: “I just stick the herbs in the pot.” Freeze any broth that you don’t use right away.

In Turkey and Egypt during the period of the Ottoman Empire, the women in the harems, the wives and concubines of the Sultans and aristocracy, were the widows and daughters captured at war. The Circassians among them were known for their beauty and their culinary skills. This classic is part of their legacy. The recipe was given by Luli Fevsi and comes from the kitchens of the old Ottoman aristocracy in Egypt. It is a cold dish which may be served as an hors d’oeuvre or as part of a buffet table.

Chicken wings are a very popular mezze item. They should be quite lemony and garlicky. You eat them with your fingers.