Here is your Chicken Wing Party Manual.

Take twenty pounds of chicken wings.

Heat one vat of vegetable oil to scalding.

Add three different homemade sauces and one dry rub.

Blue cheese dressing mellows things out in a super cheesy way. Crudites are optional but not really that welcome at our parties. Let’s keep it wing-central.

Throw in a cooler full of beer, a couple dozen loud, awesome friends, tiki torches for those mid-summer mosquitoes, and you have yourself the perfect recipe.

I’m married to a chicken wing lover. This is how things go down once a year in our backyard on hot, steamy, beer-fueled, bug-y nights. I highly recommend it.

Dry Jerk Rub
recipe from Food.com

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon crushed dried hot pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried chives
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

  1. Combine all herbs and spices together and transfer to a seal-able plastic bag.
  2. Add chicken wings and coat with rub. Makes enough for 12 wings. Or after the wings are cooked, transfer to a mixing bowl toss wings to coat with dry rub. Increase recipe as desired.

Buffalo Sauce
adapted from here

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce (Frank’s is the brand used in Buffalo)
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • salt to taste

Directions

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, and over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then turn off.
  2. After the wings are cooked, transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over the hot wings and toss to completely coat.

Blue Cheese Dressing
from David Lebovitz

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces (115g) blue cheese, crumbled
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
  • 1/4 cup (60g) sour cream, regular or lowfat
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar
  • a few drops of red wine vinegar

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mash the blue cheese with the salt and a few grinds of pepper with the back of a fork until the pieces of cheese are finely broken up.
  2. Stir in the chives, sour cream, buttermilk, and lemon juice or wine vinegar until well mixed.
  3. Add a few drops of red wine vinegar. Taste, and adjust any of the seasonings to your liking and if the dressing too thick, add a bit more buttermilk.

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Homemade ice cream without a machine? I was gob smacked when I realised how easy this is. Learning to bake and cook over the last few years has included a series of fun surprises: I never would have guessed that any old person could make ice cream at home so dang easily.

I started my ice cream adventure with one of my all-time favourite flavours, coffee. Everything about this is reminiscent of Vietnamese coffee for me – the intense sweetness from both the heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk immediately transported me back to backpacking in South-East Asia, enjoying iced coffee on hot, steamy mornings. Not a bad thing to reminisce about on these humid, 100F Minnesota days with a cold cup of ice cream in hand.

No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream
adapted from Vanilla Bean

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup/4 oz strong coffee, chilled
  • 2 cups/16 oz cold heavy cream

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together the condensed milk, vanilla, and coffee.
  2. In a separate bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. If you’re doing this by hand, as I was, prepare for a major arm ache. Tips for hand-whipping cream here.
  3. With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into condensed milk mixture until incorporated. Pour into a 9×5-inch loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 6 hours or overnight.

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Have a Lovely Weekend.

July 13, 2012

It’s the weekend! What will you be up to? I’m home cooking up a Moroccan feast today for a work project and have some other fun recipes in store for next week. We’re off to see Hot Chip tonight and then we’ll be celebrating Dan’s birthday tomorrow with a bunch of friends. Good stuff. Here are some fun posts from around the web…

Stone fruit galette.

Vegetarians, carb lovers and Coke fans beware.

The taco, deconstructed.

Market day in a little French town is not what it once was…

Has bacon mania gone too far?

Another beautiful Ottolenghi offering, perfect this time of year.

Homemade french fries and homemade curried ketchup to boot.

How to eat well on a tight budget.

(Photo from my post on tips for getting the most out of the farmers’ market.)


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