Chili-Lime Wings
On Memorial Day last year I devised a rib recipe that was crafted to show off the complex flavors of dried chilies by using a variety of different types. That turned out so well and I was left wondering, why I haven't done a wing recipe that does the same thing? Well, I didn't wait long to jump on that idea and my last offering for Wing Month 2024 does just that with these chili-lime wings.
This recipe used three varieties of chilies that have pretty distinct characteristics. First were anchos, which have a slighty sweet raisin-like flavor with very little heat. Next came guajillos with their fruity heat. Finally I used chipotles, which have a really pronounce heat and smokiness. The recipe started with the powdered versions of each of these, but it often can be easier to purchase them as whole peppers, which is what I prefer to do anyway. If you go that route, the peppers should be toasted until fragarent in a cast iron skillet on the stove, then stemmed and seeded before being ground into a fine powder.
While the peppers were the focal point here, I needed to round out the seasoning and I did so with standard bearers for recipes with a Mexican tilt. This included garlic powder, Mexican oregano, cumin, and dark brown sugar. Once I had the seasoning together, I added a tablespoon of it in the baking powder and salt combo that's used in most of my wing recipes.
The baking powder is what helps create a texture skin, which is great for getting sauces to cling well to the wings. What really gets my grilled wings crispy though is air drying them overnight. So once I coated the wings in the seasoning, I set them on a wire rack and placed the whole thing in the fridge until the next day. The loss of surface moisture that occurs during this time means that the skins start to brown and crisp faster when introduced to heat.
During this resting period is usually when I like to put together any finishing sauce for the wings. In that rib recipe that worked out so well, I also applied a layer of chili seasoning in the end too and wanted to emulate that here. So I made a sauce that started with the common butter base, to which I added most of the remaining chili seasoning along with a fair amount of lime juice, a little honey for a background sweetness, and cilantro for a fresh component. This sauce wasn't one that really tasted great on its own, but I felt pretty confident it was going to add the right flavors I was after once applied to the grilled wings.
It takes about 45 minutes over indirect high-heat for wings to effectively crisp up. That may sound like a long time, but wings also have a lot of fat and connective tissue, so the fat helps keep them juicy during that time, while it also takes a long cook to break down the gristly bites so the meat easily pulls off the bones. After the wings were done grilling, they were looking especially good with a dark brown hue that was delivered thanks to the sugar that caramelized during baking.
All that was left now was to transfer the wings to a bowl, add in the sauce, and toss to coat. After plating them up I felt like these needed greenery to make them look more attractive, so sprinkled on some additional fresh cilantro.
Like those ribs that were the inspiration point for these wing, this recipe really showcased the flavor of the chilis in a unique and tasty way. While there were three different peppers here, this was not a spicy wing, but rather one that had a really deep mixture of earthy, fruity, and smoky notes that could have only be delivered by using a blend of chilies. The sugar and honey likely assisted in scaling back most of the heat, which I actually appreciated because it helped the more nuanced characteristics of the chilies to really be front and center. The lime was the right compliment to these flavor, while the butter that was also in the sauce delivered a richness that so many good wings have. Now that I'm on the other end of this recipe, I think one of the most exciting aspects of it is that you could come up with so many different variations by merely selected different chilies, so that's something I may just have to do in the future.
