If you live somewhere that snow won’t keep you from getting to the store, pick up the ingredients for the following football food, a big hit with my guests for last week’s Steelers-Jets game.

Jim’s Dry Buffalo Wings

2-3# of chicken drumettes/wingettes/whatever
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
cooking spray

First, the quality of the wings makes all the difference in this kind of thing. The best wing sections can be described as “meaty as hell.” In the DC area, I find that Safeway reliably has the meatiest wing sections, for whatever reason.

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray the wings with cooking spray and add to a large bowl which you can cover. Alternatively, dump them in a paper shopping bag. Mix the spices in a cup. Spread on the inside of bowl lid or shake into paper bag. Toss wings and spices thoroughly.

Spread wings on a baking rack above a cookie sheet. Frying wings is for sluggards and people with low expectations for the quality of their dining experiences. Even if you anticipate guests of whom you are not fond, remember: you’ll be eating too. Bake about 12 minutes, fifteen tops.

Remove cookie sheet from oven. Turn oven up to Broil. Place cookie sheet under broiler for three minutes. Remove, turn wings over and broil another three minutes. Serve with lots and lots of water or, if no one is driving, beer.

ADDENDUM: Wet wings - After the dry wings come out of the oven, you are perfectly free to toss them in your favorite wing sauce. In fact, I tossed half of last Sunday’s wings in a 1:1 mixture of Crystal Springs Louisiana hot sauce and melted butter. Those ended up being the milder wings as the sauce-tossing washed some spices off.

Comments open for recipe and football talk.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 22nd, 2005 at 11:35 pm by Mystery Man and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.