Roasted chicken wings

We got a big package of chicken wings yesterday at 50% off in the manager’s special bin. I froze half of them and put the rest into a salt and pepper brine overnight. I wanted to do them in a simple fashion and came up with the recipe below. I never brined chicken for this long before. I decided it would be wise to check out the saltiness. I cut off one drumette and nuked it for 3 minutes. Oops, too salty. I soaked the wings in cold water in the fridge for 2 hours before proceding. That took care of the sodium problem.

Given that I was making this up as I went along, after the fact I’m scouring my brain to get the details down. It probably doesn’t matter, as no one else is going to make wings in exactly this fashion. So let’s look at it as a lesson in “how to manage a work in progress.”

In the end they weren’t strongly flavored, but they were moist and ready to gently pull off the bone with your teeth.

Roasted chicken wings

8 large brined chicken wings

1 stick unsalted butter

½ tsp garlic powder, or more

½ tsp onion powder, or more

black pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika

lemon wedges (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Rinse and dry the wings. Melt the butter. Season with onion and garlic powders and pepper. Put the wings in a large bowl. Pour the butter mix over them and toss to coat.

Put a baking rack or two on a baking sheet with 1” sides. Reserve leftover marinade. Coat with cooking spray. Arrange the wings on the racks. Add some water or broth to the baking sheet. Cover tightly with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 275 degrees and continue baking for 45 minutes. Remove foil from the pan. At this point the wings won’t be brown – they’ve been more or less steaming so far.

Increase oven to 400 degrees.

Remove foil. Heat marinade in the microwave for 20 seconds. Brush it on the wings. Sprinkle paprika over them. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until well browned. Let rest for 10 minutes and then serve.