As an avid cook with a degree in journalism and ever-expanding collection of cookbooks, I adore food words and phrases. The culinary lexicon fills me with joy, and food metaphors and similes are my favorite. Some paint an undeniable, self explanatory picture. Think "as slow as molasses" (reallllly sloooow) or "comparing apples and oranges" (two completely different things). Some take a bit more extrapolation, like "making lemonade out of lemons" (finding the good in a bad situation to make it better) or "as cool as a cucumber" (grace under pressure). I've already done a whole post about going bananas (losing our collective minds, but with banana bread!), which I found to be apropos for the moment. And today, with yet another food metaphor reflective of our ever turbulent world, we're winging it. And we're winging it both figuratively and literally, with grilled chicken wings two ways.
Who doesn't like chicken wings?
I've been making classic Buffalo-style fried chicken wings ever since I tried my first low-carb diet nearly two decades ago. Any diet that encouraged deep fried food doused in buttery hot sauce sounded like a winner, so I gave it a shot. However, even though I loved unlimited wings, it was too hard to let go of my pasta and potatoes and bread and rice so we parted ways. But I kept my recipe and treated my family with the happy little nibbles from time to time, usually as part of a football Sunday or a "snacks for dinner" Friday night spread. Recently, in an attempt to undo some of my pandemic-induced stress eating and to reconcile my relationship with my jeans, we've been doing a lot of grilling. When the Memorial Day holiday came up last weekend, we thought we'd "wing it" and try our hand at grilling some chicken wings. As a surprise to absolutely no one, they were even better than their fried counterparts.
Sweet and smoky and irresistable
Being the "more is more" kind of folks we are, we decided to do our wings two ways. We grilled up the spicy Buffalo wings, and also these saucy little beauties seasoned with BBQ rub and slathered with classic barbecue sauce. With homemade ranch dressing for dipping, and a few salads to round out the menu, it was a lovely way to spend a socially-distant holiday afternoon. I guess you can say even though life is still not normal, and California's reopening is slower than molasses, we remain as cool as cucumbers, winging it and making lemonade out of lemons. Comparing our lives before and during the quarantine is just apples and oranges. Oh, and we're still going bananas. And that's ok.
Grilled Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
4 lbs chicken wings, split into drummettes and wings and wing tips removed
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
canola oil, for brushing the grill
Buffalo Sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3-2/3 cup Frank's red hot sauce (less for milder, more for spicier)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Combine wings in a large bowl with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
Heat grill to medium heat (about 350 degrees). Brush with canola oil.
Place wings on the grill. Flip them about every 5 minutes until completely cooked, about 20-25 minutes total. Keep grill closed between flipping to keep heat in.
Make the sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add hot sauce, honey and garlic powder. Stir to combine. Add sauce to the bottom of a clean, large bowl.
When wings are cooked, add to sauce and toss together to evenly coat. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.
For BBQ wings: Skip the salt and pepper, and instead season with a multi-purpose BBQ rub or one made for poultry (about 1 tablespoon).
Cook the same as for the other wings, only brush with BBQ sauce before the final 5 minutes. (don't do it any earlier or the wings will burn).
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