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
- Combine all herbs and spices together and transfer to a seal-able plastic bag.
- 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
- Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, and over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then turn off.
- 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
- 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.
- Stir in the chives, sour cream, buttermilk, and lemon juice or wine vinegar until well mixed.
- 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.
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
- In a medium bowl, stir together the condensed milk, vanilla, and coffee.
- 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.
- 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.
Are you always busy? Everyone I know seems to be. We’re all over committed and leading lives that just go, go, go. I don’t know if you saw this New York Times piece, “The Busy Trap” but it’s well worth a read. It makes the point that almost all of our busyness is self imposed and avoidable, and that slowing down (not just for five minutes a day, but in terms of the life choices we make) is incredibly important.
My favourite paragraph begins thus: “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets.”
This recipe is for busy types in a very obvious way (it takes less than 30 minutes start to finish!) but it’s also for those who perhaps are trying to slow it down and to find some idle time. I’m in that group. I’m trying not to over-commit this summer because while I like to feel useful, needed, and to find creative outlets, I also value quiet time that is mine to fill however I choose.
Small food projects like this jam allow me a little creative outlet while not taking over my days the way some cooking projects do, thus freeing my time up for reading great books (this, this, and this, if you’re interested), tubing down rivers, swimming, and bike riding, which to me are the life blood of summer.
Dan claimed this jam is some of the best he’s ever had. It’s amazingly sweet but there’s hardly any sugar in it compared to normal jams. The strawberries really do all the work for you as they release their juices and break down.
We’ve been enjoying it on fresh or toasted baguette in the morning and it’s provided a fresh, sweet and easy item to grab on these stupefyingly warm mornings. Hope you enjoy.
Quick Strawberry Jam
adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients
- 1 quart (2 lbs) hulled strawberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Directions
- In a food processor, process strawberries until coarsely chopped – or chop coarsely by hand.
- Transfer chopped berries to a large skillet and stir in sugar and lemon juice.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until jam is thickened and bubbles completely cover the surface, about 10-20 minutes. If it doesn’t seem thick and jammy enough after that time, let it keep bubbling until it does. Transfer jam to a jar and let cool to room temperature.
- To store, seal jar and refrigerate, 10-14 days.
