Chicken Wings, adapted from Tamasin Day-Lewis’s
Supper From A Song.
Serving size: 2 adult dinner portions, 3 appetizer servings, or 1 person returning to school.
Marinade Ingredients:
2 Pounds Chicken Wings
1 Large garlic clove, crushed, peeled, minced
Piece of fresh ginger, about size of your thumbnail. Crush with heavy knife and mince. No need to peel.
2-3 Small dried red peppers, crumbled, according to preference
2 Tablespoons castup
Juice of 1 medium lemon
1 Teaspoon sea salt
1 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 Tablespoon honey or Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1 Teaspoon sesame oil
Optional:
1-2 Teaspoons Nam Pla
Prepare marinade at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours before cooking. Rinse the chicken wings. Trimming the wingtips with a poultry shears or cleaver is optional, but prevents burning while cooking. Arrange wings in single layer in a 13×9 inch baking dish.
Using a whisk or large fork, mix all marinade ingredients in a large bowl. The honey and molasses will initially resist, then integrate.
Pour marinade over chicken, cover dish with foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
An hour before you plan to cook the chicken, remove the dish from the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Cook wings in oven on middle rack, uncovered, for approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. Check at 45 minute mark to ensure wings are not drying out or burning. If they are burning, cover loosely with foil. If the pan is dry, add a splash of vermouth, white wine, broth, or water to the pan.
While the chicken cooks, make the dipping sauce.
Dipping Sauce
6 Tablespoons sour cream
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise (homemade or commercial)
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1-2 Teaspoons Tabasco sauce
1 small garlic clove, crushed, minced, and peeled
Stir everything together. Serve with damp cloths or lots of napkins, plenty of I.P.A., and, if you are feeling guilty, a green salad.
Yes, this marinade sounds sickening. Yet the honey’s sweetness (or the Lyle’s), the bitter edge of the molasses, and the sweet-sour catsup all come together in the cooking, lifting the dish from ordinary to spectacular, which is saying something for the pedestrian chicken wing.
I am able to find Lyle’s Golden Syrup in the imported foods section of my market. A little goes a long way, mitigating its expense. For ease of use, I decant the syrup into a jar.