food Dismal Failure

[Zmokin]

OK, I tried to make some hot wings the other night. I had pepper juice from juicing the last of this years crop. The pure juice was quite spunky. I mixed some of it about 50/50 with tomato sauce, with a little added sugar and salt. as a raw sauce it still had a lot of kick.

I then dipped frozen chicken wings into the sauce and placed them on a broiler pan.
Baked at 375 for 25 minutes, then turned on the broiler element for 5 minutes.

While cooking them, the kitchen smelled wonderful of hot pepper. When I pulled out the wings (which I was cooking for a potluck at work the next day), I sampled one of the wings and it tasted like chicken, no spicy heat or pepper flavor to speak of. I thought it might be because I ate one of the ones that wasn't as covered with sauce as the others, but then at the potluck after re-heating them, I got one of the ones still covered with red sauce and there was little to no spice heat and it also didn't have much tomato flavor.

is it possible the flavors I wanted evaporated off in the oven leaving the kitchen smelling great and the chicken wings tasting, well, like chicken (not like spicy chicken).

Any advice, suggestions, explanations? I'm stumped at the moment. i was trying to get the flavor of the pepper, not just the heat, to be very present, and it was like all gone.

 

[NattyPepper]

I believe it was because the tomato sauce and the pepper juice has a lot of water in it. The sauce also seems like it would not have much body to it. When you get wings at a restaurant the sauce has some substance to it, thickness. Chicken wings have a lot of fat also, so you need a pretty potent sauce to combat that. I think the idea is great and your technique is sound. Maybe next time try tomato paste and the juice, that might give you the substance you need. Possibly thickening your juice with cornstarch and then adding some butter kind of like a traditional wing sauce. Hope this is helpful, good luck.

 

[frydad4]

Add vinegar and salt to your juice to make a hot sauce. Toss that with melted butter, for a more traditional wing sauce.
Bake the wings without sauce until medium. Toss the wings in a bowl with half the sauce.
Meanwhile fire up the grill (or broiler, I guess).
Recook the wings until crispy.
Toss them again in the rest of the sauce.
Serve with blue cheese and celery.

Like this...

OK, OK, no more thread burying...

These drunken wings were so good they put SUM to sleep!
He has no idea yet, but when I wake him up from his spring-time nap he's gonna flip his lid!!

You might notice a rat in the first pic.
He's not vermin. His name is Honey. We thought he was a girl at first, but then he sprouted enormous testicles (as rats do). The girlie name stuck.
Before we found out his gender, Bear asked her to be his girlfriend, and she accepted.
Now that she has a sac the size of a small human's, things have been a little weird.
But bear says the sex is still good.

Everyone needs to try this method. It's AMAZING!!
The wings were pre-baked. No seasoning. They were frozen when I bought them. Costco, thank you.
Baked at 350 for about 45 mins. Just boring and white, but cooked.
Make a batch of sauce, however you like. I used a bottle of regular cayenne Louisiana stuff, a stick of butter, and some garlic.
Reserve half of the sauce in a serving bowl.
Put the other half in a "tossing bowl".
Preheat some coals on the grill.
Drink 8 beers.
Toss 20 wings in the tossing bowl with the sauce. Coat them good!
Slap them bitches on the grill and cook till charred.
Take off the grill, put in the serving bowl, with reserved sauce.
Repeat with the rest of the wings.
Banana leaf, serve, money!!!

It was amazing.
can't wait till SUM wakes up and enjoys it!!!!
Drunkard. (but I love him like a brother)!

HEY!!!!!!!
I was DRUNK when I made these...

 

[Zmokin]

Add vinegar and salt to your juice to make a hot sauce. Toss that with melted butter, for a more traditional wing sauce.
Bake the wings without sauce until medium. Toss the wings in a bowl with half the sauce.
Meanwhile fire up the grill (or broiler, I guess).
Recook the wings until crispy.
Toss them again in the rest of the sauce.
Serve with blue cheese and celery.

Like this...

I don't like traditional buffalo wings, too darn vinegary for me.
But, I guess saucing them after cooking though would have achieved my goal.

I believe it was because the tomato sauce and the pepper juice has a lot of water in it. The sauce also seems like it would not have much body to it. When you get wings at a restaurant the sauce has some substance to it, thickness. Chicken wings have a lot of fat also, so you need a pretty potent sauce to combat that. I think the idea is great and your technique is sound. Maybe next time try tomato paste and the juice, that might give you the substance you need. Possibly thickening your juice with cornstarch and then adding some butter kind of like a traditional wing sauce. Hope this is helpful, good luck.

Yeah, paste instead of sauce definitely would have helped thicken the sauce mix.

 

[frydad4]

Too darn vinegary? Just add more butter!!!
Good luck with the next batch. Let us know how it turns out.

Also, you could have used that juice to make a nice hot sweet BBQ sauce for the wings...

 

[Zmokin]

Too darn vinegary? Just add more butter!!!
Good luck with the next batch. Let us know how it turns out.

Also, you could have used that juice to make a nice hot sweet BBQ sauce for the wings...

I don't know if they were offered USA wide, I just know they were a limited time, but KFC had these wings they called Fiery Grilled wings. They were not breaded or deep-fried. They were larger wings than their traditional breaded deep-fried hot wings. And surprisingly, fairly spunky and tasty, you could even taste the flavor of the pepper, not just the heat. I know you guys on here know of what I mean when I say peppers have a flavor besides the heat. I really liked those KFC Fiery Grilled wings, and while I know I can't perfectly duplicate it as I refuse to use MSG in my recipe, my goal was to make a hot wing where you can taste the pepper taste, not have it masked with too much salt, sugar, vinegar, etc. Not that lots of sugar and salt don't taste good, but I'm trying to preserve that rather subtle taste of the fresh pepper and have it be noticeable.

 

[Zmokin]

Partial Success. I cooked the sauce that was leftover from dipping frozen chicken wings to insure no salmonella.
I deep fried a new batch of wings, then coated with the sauce.
Not too bad, but I think the tomato sauce still masked the true essence of what I wanted.
Next time, I think the secret will be juice mixed with some of the red powder only, and applied once again, after the wings are deep fried.
Nothing but pepper sauce and maybe a little salt, go with the KISS principle