Mexican Roadside Chicken Wings
Lately I've been returning to some of the fondest bites from my earlier Meatwave days. This has reignited good memories as well as tastes I don't often get since this site still has me doing almost all new recipes when I'm cooking outdoors. One chicken dish that has always stood out in my mind is this Mexican roadside variation that I learned from Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. Of course, I had the thought that if I were to redo this recipe on wings instead of a whole bird, it could be a whole new post, and that's where I landed with a chicken that's more than worthy of its repeat representation.
The original recipe calls for a base of orange juice and vinegar seasoned with garlic, chiles, and a few spices that's used as a baste instead of a marinade. That's how I prepared my chicken the first time, but since I had done advance planning this time around, I actually split the sauce in half and marinated the wings first.
I had bought about three pounds of wings and tossed them with the earthy and tangy sauce before letting them sit in it for a couple hours. You still don't need much extra planning though because the high acidity of the marinade also means shorter soaking times are best to keep the meat from going through a textural change.
A lot of roadside chicken is grilled either on a rotisserie or further away from the coals, so it cooks slower than direct grilling, which is exactly how I always do my wings. So over indirect heat the wings went, and I let them cook, covered, for about fifteen minutes before giving them a brushing with the remaining sauce.
I still has some sauce left, so I was able to give the wings a second brushing another fifteen minutes later. After a third fifteen wait, the wings were a beautiful dark mahogany hue and definitely looked delicious.
I transferred them all to a serving platter and then tossed some knob onions on the hot side of the grill and cooked those until charred and tender. I made this dish in spring, which is the time of year I can find these onions easily, but if the grocery store didn't have them, I would have just gone with scallions, which would have cooked even faster and are even easier to eat to alongside the wings.
Like a lot of chicken recipes that I transform into wings, I actually like this incarnation better than the original. That's because the larger surface area to meat ratio meant the flavor of the marinade was even more prominent, giving each wing a deeply earthy, acidic, fruity, and slightly herbal taste. Eating them with a bit of onion was all the better, but I totally forgot the book also recommended some tomatillo salsa too, which would have been all the better by introducing a different type of tartness and sweetness that no doubt would have tasted great.
