CHICKEN WINGS

Chicken Wings

at least 1 lb of unbreaded unseasoned chicken wings, thawed

deep fryer oil/canola or canola blend oil

TO MAKE LEMON PEPPER WING:

lemon pepper spice (to taste - I tend to add a lot)

dill (to taste. again, I add a fair amount)

lemon juice (to taste. It adds a lot of flavor and I use a fair bit of this as well)

at least a tablespoon or more of margerine.

salt (to taste)

TO MAKE A LOUISIANNA MILD WING:

Franks Red Hot sauce, or another Louissiana hotsauce of your choice. Use a fair bit, it tends to soak into the wing and is mild when cooked.

TO MAKE A HOTTER LOUISIANNA WING:

Franks Red Hot sauce, plus...

any additional super hot sauces you may have at home that you smuggled across the border. Use according to the bottles directions, or, as I like to use....

Any Chinese chili sauce. They tend to kick up the heat and have a nice flavor to match. Use enough to coat the wings. The sauce wont soak into the wing.

Cayenne Pepper (optional) or Cajun Spice (optional)

This is one of the only recipes I have that requires two specific pieces of equipment to make absolutely tasty. Anyone can make wings. They can be breaded or not, pan fried, or baked, and preseasoned. In order to make my wings, you need a deep fryer and a frying pan. And I do not use breading of any kind. And I always season the wings myself.

Thaw the wings if they aren't already.

Make sure there is oil in the deep fryer to the fill line. Plug in/turn on to a medium temperature (if you have a temperature adjusting knob, just above the middle setting is fine, otherwise don't worry about it).

When the oil is hot, add the wings to the basket. Drop the basket and fry until the wings begin to brown slightly. Shake the basket a bit to loosen the wings so they don't all clump together. Pull out a single wing with a fork. On a plate, cut into the test wing and see if it is cooked through. Though you may see darker or dark red marrow close to the bone, and it may be juicy, there should be no raw pink or bleeding in there. If there is, continue to fry and check again a few minutes later.

When the wings are done, throw them into a metal mixing bowl. In the bowl (or bowls if you are making a number of flavors) you will season your wing. Regardless of how you season the wing, the next step is the key to a perfect wing. See the side bar for my favorite seasonings and how to mix them. Others you can rig yourself or buy premade (sweet and sour sauces, plum sauces, honey garlic sauces, your favorite barbeque sauces, etc) If you find some seasonings don't stick well to the wings, add margarine to the mix. It will help coat the wing more evenly and adds flavor.

Preheat a frying pan to medium high heat. Take the seasoned and well mixed wings, and dump them into the frying pan. Flip the wings around the frying pan a few minutes until the seasoning has time to coat the wings and bake into them. Watch so it doesn't burn. Baking in the flavor ensures a nice, still warm (as seasonings tend to cool the meat and they are luke warm and soggy), crisp wing with added flavor baked right onto the wing.

Dish and serve and enjoy!