4 Levels of Chicken Wings: Amateur to Food Scientist

[food crunching and sizzling]

[upbeat music]

I'm Bianca, and I'm a level one chef.

I'm Gabrielle, and I'm a level two chef.

I'm Chris, and I've been a chef for 30 years.

[upbeat music]

My recipe is a twist on the traditional hot wings.

Add a little honey to give it a nice sweet and tangy flavor.

My recipe is going to be featuring

the Scotch bonnet pepper, even though it's super spicy,

it has a ton of flavor. So my dish is gonna be

a fusion of two cultures, my wife is Korean,

my background is in Southern food.

This dish kind of encompasses both of our styles.

[bells chiming]

So let's get started on the marinade.

Before anything else even happens--

We're adding the chicken to a Ziploc bag

to add the seasoning. So it's really easy

to make this marinade, I'm gonna go ahead and put in my oil,

thyme, scallions-- For the seasoning

we have paprika-- Mustard powder.

Pinch of salt. Oh crap, little bit

too much salt. And a pinch of--

Pepper, Seasoned Salt is what chicken is made for.

Someone told me this is like a heart attack in a bottle,

but that's not important here.

And now, behold the Scotch bonnet pepper.

To get an idea of just how spicy these are,

the Scotch bonnet pepper is actually around 40 times hotter

than a jalapeno pepper, and we're gonna eat it today.

Whoo!

So the yogurt here is really gonna be the workhorse.

There's a lot of acidulated properties in the yogurt

that will really tenderize the meat just like in buttermilk.

The garlic, the soy, and the sesame is there

strictly for flavor. I can feel it radiating

into my eyes. [laughs] And then you just kind of

mix all this up together.

Take a little taste.

[humming] It's perfect. Just gonna

go ahead and pour my marinade

straight on to the chicken wings, ah!

So now I'm gonna add my chicken wings.

I'm gonna be using a free range, hormone-free chicken wing.

So free range chicken is good

because for one, how it's raised,

for two, how it's fed. These are done

and I'm gonna let them marinate for two hours.

I'm gonna put it in the refrigerator for an hour.

So now we have our seasoned chicken.

If it doesn't look like this, you're doing it wrong, sis.

All right, time to make the hot sauce.

I'm gonna go ahead and chop my peppers,

deseeding it because the seeds are where the heat is kept.

And you're gonna wanna chop them really fine.

You don't want a big chunk of this in your hot sauce,

because it will probably reduce you to tears.

I really fear the Scotch bonnet pepper.

For my hot sauce, we're gonna add about a stick and a half

of butter, we'll wait until the butter completely melts

before we add any other ingredients.

I'm gonna go ahead and add my deli mustard.

Orange juice, which is gonna add a little bit of sweetness

to the sauce, a little lime juice, and my spices.

Cumin, coriander, curry powder, salt and pepper.

So right here I have some Gochujang.

What is this, you might ask?

It's made from a blend of red and green chili peppers

pounded into a paste and dehydrated--

So the butter is totally melted.

So now we're gonna add Frank's Hot Sauce.

This here is vinegar powder.

You've ever had a bag of barbecue chips,

or the salt and vinegar chips, this is exactly

what they use right here. Now for the last bit,

one cup of honey, that always hits the spot.

We're mixing all of these ingredients together.

And there's my sauce.

So now that I got my heat, let's fry the chicken.

Throw 'em on the grill.

Here we go, these suckers have been marinating now

for about two hours-- My chicken has been

marinating for about an hour, let's get ready to fry.

I have some all-purpose flour right here,

corn starch, some baking powder, and then I'm gonna

mix all that up, let's get ready to operate.

After I dredge the chicken, I'm gonna lay it right here

on my rack and kind of let the air get to it

for about a good 15, 20 minutes.

Yeah, this is the way you make wings.

So now we're gonna put this in the oven at 400 degrees

for about 45 minutes. A grilled wing

is the best wing, it just has that char.

And especially with a recipe that's really spicy like this,

it just adds to the flavor. It's time to fry.

I got my oil at 350, probably gonna be able to fit

maybe one or two in there nicely.

Got some grill lines going on, you don't get that

from deep frying or baking. I prefer to fry my wings

because of the crispiness aspect of it.

See how it has that golden crispiness to it?

So our chicken just came out of the oven,

time to coat them in hot sauce.

So we're gonna add the chicken to the bowl.

Got it. [laughs]

So you want your chicken to be at 165 degrees.

You wanna really cook out the bacteria.

Chicken's coked, now I want to drizzle

some of the Scotch bonnet hot sauce all over these.

And we're pouring the hot sauce, oh my gosh.

And while it's still hot, I'm gonna sift my spicy

Gochujang powder onto the chicken.

And what this does is really gonna create that fragrance,

and heat that I've been talking about.

I like to let the meat soak up all the juices.

We'll let the chicken sit for five minutes.

Ah, love, they look amazing!

To compliment the hot wings, I'm gonna make kaennip.

Kkaennip is a perilla leaf that's marinated

in sesame and soy, so I'm gonna take garlic,

some Korean chili flakes, soy, the sesame,

a little bit of sugar, sesame seeds, blend all this up.

Thin it out with a little bit of water.

And then I'm gonna brush each leaf individually

and stack them ever so nicely and let that ferment.

I'm gonna be making a chutney.

So we're gonna start with a little bit of oil.

I have some shredded purple onion here.

Cook them until they are a little bit translucent.

They smell so good, gonna add in my apple cider vinegar

and my mango, and the mango is gonna help tone down

some of the hot, salty, savory flavors in the chicken.

So I'm gonna be making a Gochujang sauce.

This is the past version of the Gochujang that we saw

in the beginning, I'm gonna add some soy, some vinegar

and a little bit of water to kind of dilute it out.

My mango's soft so I'm gonna add in the rest.

Brown sugar, my allspice, pinch of salt,

a little pinch of pepper, cook down for about 12 minutes

until it gets nice and thick and syrupy.

The spiciness and the tanginess of this sauce

is gonna be the perfect marriage

of everything that's gonna be on the plate.

Ranch and hot wings is just a match made in heaven.

You can't eat too much ranch.

A lot of people like blue cheese, blue cheese is disgusting.

You guys are monsters, now this celery

is synonymous with wings, not blue cheese.

So another thing that I like to serve with my wings

are crepinettes, it's another way to utilize

the chicken wing meat, mix it up with a little bit of egg,

garlic, ginger, some herbs, pepper.

This right here is called a farce,

almost as if you're making meatloaf.

And I'm gonna wrap that up in caul fat.

What caul fat is, it's the thin membrane

that surrounds the organs of the cow.

And once they're all ready, then we're gonna saute.

And here we have our chicken wing crepinette.

I can eat all of this in one setting.

Now I'm just going to go ahead and serve this chutney

on the side. So here I have

the chicken wings, the crepinette, the kkaennip,

sauce, and some fresh herbs. And these are my hot wings

with ranch and celery.

And voila, here are my wings!

And these are my hot wings.

[sweet music]

Here we go.

Mm.

Mm, this is really good. Spicy, tangy.

It's really, really good! Perfect.

Finger licking good, literally.

I never cook for my family, but I would definitely

cook them these wings. I'm very, very, very

happy with these, wow, the sweetness is there,

and it's definitely a little hot,

my mouth's burning. [laughs] It's everything

that it's supposed to be, it's the marriage

of the two flavors and the two cultures together.

I'm telling you, this is gonna be the best hot wings

that you can get anywhere.

Let's take a look at how our three chefs

were able to mix heat and flavor while making hot wings.

[intense drumming]

Bianca and Gabrielle used the drumettes and wingettes

in their recipes, while Chris used the entire wing.

The wingettes are comprised of tender dark meat.

The meat on the drumette, while technically is

considered dark meat, actually has a texture

a bit closer to white meat.

The wing tips are tiny, pointy pieces

shaped like a feather, they are almost

completely skin, bone, and cartilage with no meat.

Bianca seasoned her chicken with Lawry's, salt, pepper,

and paprika, resulting in a well balanced combination

of savory and woodsy flavors. And I can't really say

what the flavor is, but what I will say, it's banging, okay.

Gabrielle and Chris both marinated their wings.

When chicken is marinated, moisture is absorbed,

making it juicier, Gabrielle marinated her chicken

in a puree of oil, chilis, scallions, thyme,

dry mustard, and salt, creating a deep harmony of flavor.

Chris's marinade consisted of sesame oil, garlic powder,

soy, and yogurt, the result is a nutty, salty, creamy blend

with hints of sourness.

The acid in the yogurt helps break down the muscle tissue

and connective proteins, acts as a tenderizer

and enriches the flavor of the final product.

[intense drumming]

Bianca roasted her wings in an oven,

Gabrielle used a grill, and Chris used a deep fryer.

Bianca baked her wings at a high temperature

for 40 to 45 minutes, the wings slightly shrunk

as water evaporated from the surface and made browning occur

producing a deep color, aroma, and flavor.

Gabrielle grilled her wings, grilling adds smokiness

and tenderness, locks in moisture, and cooks the meat

on the inside by creating a caramelized crust

on the outside, Chris used a mixture of flour,

baking powder and cornstarch to bread his chicken wings.

Corn starch is often used as a thickening agent.

However when used to fry chicken, it creates a

super crisp crust that seals in the juices of the chicken.

For Chris's wings, the process of deep frying

cooked and dehydrated them. That's where that

crispy goodness comes into play.

Frying cooks food quickly, producing a crispy surface

and a tender, moist interior.

[intense drumming]

Bianca used store-bought Frank's Hot Sauce,

but added melted butter and honey.

The butter added creaminess to her sauce,

while honey increased its sweetness and stickiness.

Gabrielle used Scotch bonnet peppers in her sauce.

These peppers are among the hottest,

ranging from 80,000 to 400,000 Scoville units,

which measure heat, for comparison,

the hottest jalapenos are only 5,000 Scoville units.

I know how dangerous it is, so I'm just gonna

treat it with a lot of care. Scotch bonnet peppers

are extremely spicy, yet add a slight sweet taste

to the sauce, with hints of tomatoes, apples and cherries.

Chris's wings got their heat from Gochujang powder.

This is made from gochugaru

which are Korean red chili flakes.

It has heat to it with hints of orange and cardamom.

They are vibrant red, coarse in texture,

and fairly smoky and spicy in taste.

[intense drumming]

Ranch sauce was served with Bianca's wings.

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili responsible for heat

is fat soluble, ranch dressing contains casein,

a fat loving protein, casein binds to heat receptors,

making capsaicin easier to tolerate

and more pleasing and rounded in flavor.

The mangoes in Gabrielle's chutney

added a break from the intense heat

found in the Scotch bonnet peppers.

The mango tempered the sweetness,

added tanginess, and raised the acid level of the chutney.

So you have a little bit of everything in this chutney.

Chris made a sauce out of Gochujang paste

and soy sauce, the result was a thick dipping sauce

with pungent, savory notes,

and an inviting, warm, spicy kick.

The crepinettes and perilla leaves

that Chris served with his wings tied everything together

and emphasized the Korean influence in his dish.

As you can see from our chef's dishes,

just because something has a lot of heat,

doesn't mean it cannot have a lot of flavor.

[chime rings]