Customer Reviews

Wing It!: Delectable Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Bar Snack

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My tried and true method for making Buffalo Wings has been a sure fire hit for a number of years. My combination method of first baking then quickly frying to get a crispness before tossing in Frank's Hot Sauce along with a few added ingredients has allowed me to very nearly duplicate the taste of the Wings from the legendary Anchor bar...or so friends have told me so.

Still...there are many ways of doing tasty wings, especially when entertaining guests who want a little less fire. When we entertain I usually make three types of wings: My standard, and a couple of mild to medium hot varieties that favor more spice over hear. "Wing it" has been added to my collection and provides several outstanding wing recipes that our flavorful without making your eyes water. The Sesame Wings are a particular favorite of a friend of mine who insists I make them every time he comes over.

Oddly Enough I'm not crazy about Mr. O'hara's recipe for his Classic Buffalo Wings for the simple reason I don't like my buffalo wings to be battered because if they sit for two long the batter soaks up the sauce rendering the wings with a spongy texture.

Solid book with the rest of the recipes though.

Lots of good recipes for those who like Chicken Wings. Sauces can be used to spice up other foods as well.

Whatever you do, do not buy this book. Sadly this is one of those cooking/food books written by someone who is just in the business of writing books. He seeks out a niche subject and throws a book together in a month. See other books:
Ribs: A Connoisseur's Guide to Barbecuing and Grilling
The Ultimate Chili Book: A Connoisseur's Guide to Gourmet Recipes and the Perfect Four-Alarm Bowl
The Bloody Mary
Hot Toddies: Mulled Wine, Buttered Rum, Spiced Cider, and Other Soul-Warming Winter Drinks
Great American Beer: 50 Brands That Shaped the 20th Century
He shows no expertise or even a bit of research about the subject matter.

First the dangerous. "For charcoal grills. Always presoak your charcoal with lighter fluid for at least 5 minutes before you light it." Direct quote. Forget for a minute the lighter fluid taste your food will have. This is dangerous. Do not do this. First of all charcoal does not need lighter fluid. You need to build a pyramid with your charcoal and light it from the bottom, or use one of those open sided "can" devices that hold the charcoal in a cylinder close together to facilitate lighting. Your charcoal will light just fine. It will take 10 minutes to get hot but at least it is safe. Soaking your charcoal will only cause a huge flare-up that will singe your eyebrows.

Second the bad. The author said you should deep fry wings at 175 degrees. Excuse me? Ah no. You should deep fry at 375 degrees. I doubled checked this a few times to see if what I was reading was correct. Could this be a typo? I continued to read. Later in the same chapter he says you should allows batter your wings not matter how you cook them. Not just when you are making "fried wings" (which is different than traditional Buffalo wings, which is also fried but NOT battered). Always. I expected a book of wings to have different cooking techniques including batter fried but why would he say to batter ALL your wings no matter the cooking technique, or style you are making? He says: "Even if it's just a light coating of flour. This well help to keep oil from penetrating your wings." That's a direct quote. See this is someone who did not research his subject matter. He is not an expert on it. You do not batter your wings to keep the oil out. You fry at 350-375 degrees to keep the oil out. This is the only way. Frying at a low temperatures does not let the water in the meat turn to steam which pushes back against the oil to keep it out. this is basic cooking 101.
Even when you are making a specific type of wings which calls for a batter you need to keep the temperate at no lower than 350. When you are making this type of wing the batter is for texture not to keep the oil out. If anything frying at that low of a temperature(175) will make the batter extremely oily. Especially if it is a flour batter it will absorb oil. A lot of it too.

The wings themselves are not that interesting. Very few recipes and they don't taste good at all. Like I said he just threw the book together in a month. I love wings and I am always looking for new recipes. Look elsewhere for wing recipes.