This post goes out to the Anon who made a foodwish for Salt & Pepper Wings
Okay so when this foodwish was made I, who’s not quite familiar with Chinese takeouts, thought it actually meant chicken wings cooked with salt.and.pepper. Of course, in reality it’s not quite that literal. Still pretty simple, but it requires a bit more ingredients than its namesake.
SALT & PEPPER WINGS:
[ 2 lbs chicken wings + 1/4 cup of flour + 1 tablespoon sesame oil + freshly ground black pepper + salt + white pepper + 3 tablespoon vegetable oil + 3 diced jalapenos + 3 cloves of garlic, sliced ]
And now for a lesson on how to dismantle your chicken wings.
A chicken wing consists of 3 parts - the drummette, the wingette and the tip or the “nub”.
Most people just cut through and separate the parts with a sharp knife without much thought, and this, for the most part, is okay. But you’ll usually end up with mangled looking parts, like so:
A drummette that doesn’t look like a mini drumstick at all and, most importantly, [sharp] bone fragments in your wing pieces.
So here’s the step by step to avoid that:
We’ll cut off the drummette first.
Hold the wing against the cutting board so that you are forming a “V” between the drummette and wingette. Hold your knife at the center of this “V.”
And now just go straight down, cutting through the space between the drummette and wingette until you can see the joint.
Cut through the space between the joint - it should be nice and easy because you’re cutting through cartilage and not bone.
Now we’ll cut off the wing tip.
Hold the wing so that the wing tip is on the right. Again, hold it like a “V” and place your knife at the center of this “V”.
And again run your knife through the space in between the joint. You can now discard the tip or save it to make chicken stock.
No mangled chicken stumps!
Then take your drummette and wingette, put them in a bowl and add in the seasoning. The exact amount is hard to say, but it’s roughly about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2-1 tablespoon of black pepper and about 1/2 tablespoon of white pepper. Then add in the sesame oil and toss to coat evenly.
Dredge the chicken pieces in flour by putting them inside a clean plastic bag and putting the flour in. Shake the bag and the pieces will be coated.
Heat 2 tablespoon of the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken wings and brown on all sides.
Then cover the pan and let the chicken wings cook over medium low to medium heat. If the pan gets too dry then add a little water. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Remove the chicken wings to a rack to keep them crispy.
Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and garlic in another pan at the same time. Then heat it over medium heat. It’s important to start with room temperature oil so that the garlic can crips up without burning.
Add in the Jalapeno slices and sautee briefly. Toss in the chicken and mix to coat.
Transfer to a platter and serve. Add more salt and pepper if needed.
Enjoy!
Not exactly under 300 calories, but I believe that one deserves a break once in a while, especially after a really, really long day. This recipe is taken from Chef John’s Foodwishes.com.
I won’t give you the recipe here but I’ll put up a link to the video and the recipe on Chef John’s site.
Alterations that I did:
- Didn’t oven fry the chicken wings. I just shallow-fried it in 3 tablespoons of corn oil on medium-high heat.
- Omitted the ginger cause I didn’t have any on hand.
- Added a dash (2 tablespoons) of Tabasco sauce to the sauce instead of the sambal.
And as an added bonus, here’s the link done by CJ on how to eat your chicken wings.
Enjoy!
