chicken wings

Well I have always believed that the United States is the home of chicken wings. I mean what’s more American than sitting down with a basket of crispy wings? Well, it turns out that while we may be the spiritual home, different cultures are adding their flavors. Here are three wing recipes that will give you a bit of international flair without leaving a basic American dish behind. Please try them all and enjoy. I recommend making more than one recipe so that you can have a couple of great flavors at the same time. Around the World with Chicken Wings: Chinese Chicken Wings Start with 18 or about 3 lbs of chicken wings Olive oil 3 green onions cut into 3” pieces ½ c. soy sauce 1/3 c. sherry ½ cup chicken broth (avoid too salty brands like Campbell’s) ¼ c. catsup 3 whole star anise seeds 2 T sugar ¼ t. ground ginger 1 large head iceberg lettuce, shredded. Cut the tips of the wings off at joint and discard. Then cut the remaining two sections at the joint. Heat oil in 5 qt. Dutch oven and sauté wings until golden. Add about 2/3 of the green onion pieces. Stir constantly. Reduce heat. Remove wings so as to pour off excess oil then return wings and onions to the pot. Add soy sauce, sherry, chicken broth, catsup, anise, sugar and ginger. Cover and simmer 25 minutes, stir occasionally. Uncover and cook 10 minutes longer, stirring frequently (until almost all liquid is absorbed and wings are tender. Serve warm or cold on a bed of lettuce leaves. Garnish with remaining green onion pieces. Japanese Chicken Wings Start with about a dozen wings (about 2 1/3 lbs) 1 medium clove garlic 1 piece of fresh ginger (about 1”x1”), peeled ½ c. Japanese rice wine (sake) ½ c. soy sauce ¼ c. firmly packed light brown sugar ¼ t. dried hot red pepper flakes Remove the tips from the chicken wings and discard. Cut through the remaining two joints to separate. Place one 1-gallon plastic bag inside another and place the wings inside. Place the bags (and their contents) in a large bowl. To make the marinade, drop the garlic and the ginger through the feed tube of a food processor with the metal blade in place and the motor running. Process until finely chopped, about 10 seconds. Scrape down the work bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and process for 5 seconds. Pour the marinade over the bagged [...]