Whether they’re steamed, sous-vided, or parboiled before frying, my favorite wings are usually cooked twice. Similar to pouring boiling water over chicken thighs, par-cooking wings before a final fry renders out some of the fat and breaks down connective tissue, resulting in juicier meat and crispier skin. Most common par-cooking methods involve water in some way, but not these wings. These wings are trashed, and they are terrific.
Trashed wings, also called “dirty wings,” are a type of wing that hail from St. Louis. They’re called “trashed wings” because they trash the fry oil, and the preparation is fairly straightforward: Fry the wings once, toss them in sauce, then fry them again. The first fry cooks the wings, rendering out the fat and and melting all of that delightful collagen tissue into silky gelatin. The second fry crisps the skin up further, while also browning and/or caramelizing the sauce.
When I first went to make these wings, I doubted the sauce step was all that important, but I was wrong. I made a few of batches of wings: Par-boiled then fried, fried twice without any sauce, and double fried with sauce. The wings that were boiled then fried were the least crispy, but I was surprised by how different the two batches of double-fried wings were from each other.
The naked twice-fried wings were fine. They were a little crispier than the wings that had been boiled and then fried, but not by much. The trashed wings were noticeably crispier, almost like they had been lightly battered, with a darker, rusty, orange-red hue.
Set yourself up for frying success:
- A high-walled Dutch oven, so you don’t splash yourself with hot oil
- A clip-on digital thermometer, so you never have to guess the temperature of your oil
- A spider, for fishing out your crispy wings
That “lightly battered” texture comes from the sauce. I used a classic Buffalo sauce, made with 1/3 cup of melted butter and 1/2 cup of Frank’s Red Hot sauce. Butter, as we all know, contains a fair amount of milk solids, which brown readily. Hot sauce also contains things that brown (like peppers and garlic) and/or caramelize (if you use a sweetened sauce). When this combination of butter and other ingredients meets hot oil, the water is driven off, and the solids darken, giving the wing an extra layer of crispy texture.
The fried Frank’s did not, however, provide much flavor (besides “browned,” which isn’t a bad flavor). The heat from the capsaicin was significantly reduced by the heat from the oil, and any nuance in the sauce was obliterated. That’s alright; you can always sauce them again, and that extra layer of saucy protection will help them keep their crunch. (You can also play around with different sauces. Sauces that contain sugar will caramelize, affecting the flavor and texture a little differently than a sauce that doesn’t contain any sweeteners.)
Trashed Wings
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds chicken wings, broken down into drums and flats
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup Frank’s hot sauce
- Neutral oil for frying (at least 40 ounces; I usually get a gallon)
Add your oil to a high-walled nonreactive Dutch oven or pot. Do not fill the pot over two-thirds of the way. Heat the oil to 375℉, taking care to not let the oil get much cooler than 350℉, as the temp will drop each time you add the cold wings. (Let the oil climb back up a bit in between batches if needed.)
Fry the wings, working in batches if necessary and flipping if needed to crisp both sides, until the meatiest part of wing reads 170℉ (the higher temp helps the fat and collagen break down). Remove with a spider or tongs and let the wings cool on a wire rack for five minutes.
Prepare the sauce by whisking the butter and Frank’s until emulsified. Toss the wings in the sauce and return them to the oil for a minute or so, until the skin darkens and crisps. Drizzle with a little more sauce if desired and serve immediately.