Soy Sauce Chicken Wings

Zutaten

¾ cup soy sauce

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup packed brown sugar

12 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 pounds chicken wings, cut at joints, wingtips discarded

2 scallions, sliced thin on bias

Anweisungen

1. Combine soy sauce, oil, sugar, garlic, and cayenne in 1-gallon zipper-lock bag. Add wings to marinade, press out air, seal bag, and turn to distribute marinade. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 6 hours.

2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray. Remove wings from marinade and arrange in single layer, fatty side up, on prepared sheet; discard marinade. Bake until evenly well browned, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer wings to platter, sprinkle with scallions, and serve.

Notizen

We prefer to buy whole chicken wings and butcher them ourselves because they tend to be larger than wings that come presplit. If you can find only presplit wings, opt for larger ones, if possible. Three pounds of chicken wings is about 12 whole chicken wings, which will yield about 24 pieces of chicken (12 drumettes and 12 flats) once broken down.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS We found that whole wings were cumbersome to eat and stayed a bit flabby at the joint. Splitting the wings into flats and drumettes allowed more fat to render and made the pieces easier to handle. To give our split wings savory flavor with a touch of sweetness and heat, we marinated them in a combination of soy sauce, vegetable oil, brown sugar, garlic, and cayenne pepper. We opted for fresh garlic rather than garlic powder in the marinade, as the powder burned in the oven and turned bitter. We arranged the wings on a baking sheet before baking them for about an hour in a moderate 350 degree oven; this gave us meltingly tender meat; any less time and the fat didn’t fully render, leaving the skin unpleasantly chewy.