FOOD | Julianne Glatz
Chicken wings are wildly popular. Entire restaurants – entire restaurant chains – are centered around them. They’ve become one of America’s favorite appetizers, party pleasers, bar snacks, tailgate treats, heck, one of America’s favorite foods.
But 50 years ago chicken wings were barely visible on America’s culinary landscape.
Chefs used them – if at all – for making stock. Wings only appeared on dinner tables as parts of chicken dinners – fried, roasted, barbequed, etc. They were always served whole, the tip folded behind to made a triangle The ascendance of wings mystifies some longtime farmers. “I don’t get it,” Paul Gebhardt told me once. Gebhardt was one of central Illinois’ first to use organic farming methods and sell pastured chickens; he mentored others beginning to farm sustainably.
But he couldn’t understand why people would pay more per pound for chicken wings than a whole bird. “There’s just no meat on ’em,” he said, shaking his head.
America’s love affair with chicken wings began one Friday night in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar late when a group of ravenous friends walked in. As the clock struck midnight, Bellissimo’s all-Catholic buddies wanted something to break their meatless Friday fast. He asked his mother, Teressa, to fix something, but there was little in the kitchen besides chicken wings she’d planned to use for soup. Teressa cut them into sections (undoubtedly reserving the tips for soup stock), deep-fried them and then doused them with melted butter and hot sauce. Buffalo Wings were born. Bellissimo fried the wings, but they taste just as good, though slightly less crispy, when roasted in a 375° oven for 45-60 minutes. The classic version uses a hot sauce such as Frank’s or Louisiana-style; others are used to crank up the heat level. I like to add minced garlic to the sauce. And there are countless variations.
Worldwide, chicken wings have long been valued, partly because cuisines of poverty utilize every bit of meat, and partly because wings’ ratio of meat to skin makes them especially succulent and flavorful.
One of my favorites is Mekong Café’s caramelized wings. Cooking meat and fish in caramel sauce is common in Southeast Asia. But I’ve never found a recipe or caramelized fish/meat restaurant preparation to equal Mahnee’s, or been able to duplicate his. The wings are fried, then tossed in a caramel sauce that’s slightly sweet, salty and savory with fish sauce, garlic, shallots and black pepper. They’re absolutely addictive.
My recipe file has plenty of other wonderful wing recipes, though. Here are some favorites.
Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.
