Molly Mills - From the Classic Buffalo and Beyond: 30+ Ways to Feed your Chicken Wings Obsession

Everyone would scout for a platter of chicken wings in a spread, whether its a game-day or not, but especially if its a game day. These finger food favorites impress everyone well, with an assortment of flavorings, they could be paired with and the varying ways they could be enjoyed. But theres more to chicken wings than meets the eyes. Apart from its useless looking tip, a flat/wingette, and a somehow meaty lollipop part, also called the drumette; chicken wings are considered choice cuts for the amount of greatness that they are stuffed with. And for good reasons.

Chicken wings are considered a delicacy. Whether you are serving a whole bird or cut-up ones, you will find the wings disappearing faster than anything else. They get to pack a ton of flavors that you would like licking on. There are also three sections to choose from, which differ not just in size but in their capacities to well, impress.

The tip looks almost useless because there is hardly any meat on. They are mostly bones and cartilage wrapped in skin. But thats why they are most loved. That thin skin could get crispy and utterly juicy and oh so flavorful. As for the flat part or the wingette, it has quite a substantial amount of dark meat covered in skin. It could burst with yumminess, even with just a simple marinade or saucy concoction. Then again, most people would fight over the drumette because its the meatiest part. It looks like a small drumstick (thus the term), and its the part thats attached to the chicken, particularly the breast. The drumette has that unique feature of meat thats quite a cross between dark and white meat, and that is its main allure.

Chicken wings are sold whole or sectioned. The tip, the wingette, and the drumette have different dimensions and may require different treatments in the kitchen. Thats why some would prefer to make each particular part into a different dish. But then, you will hear no complaints if they are cooked whole either. Chicken wings work great in the grill, oven, and the pan whole and wonderful!

There are a few tips to keep in mind, however.

Save the Tip for your Soup Base

Most likely, you will find no use for the wing tip. Sometimes, it could even cause harm to your recipes. There is hardly anything to eat from the tip, and since it is quite too thin, it could easily burn. If you do not necessarily need the wing whole, you can always remove the wing tip and collect them to make chicken stock. The three chicken wing parts are separated by joints. You may cut through those without trouble.

Buy Whole or Separate the Wing Parts Yourself

Chicken wings can be bought whole, or if you only need/want the wingette or drumette, you can buy them instead. The advantage of getting whole chicken wings, except for the fact that they look good at the table, is they are cheaper than the precut variety. Buying chicken wings whole is definitely a wiser idea since it is not too hard to separate, and after you get what you want, you still have the wing tips for your soup stock. Unless you are cooking a good batch, and it will really take up a lot of your time to separate the wing parts.

Cook on High

It does not matter if you are baking, frying, roasting, grilling, sauting, or boiling or what other cooking methods you are going to apply. What is more important is to ensure you are cooking the chicken wings on high temp. This is a trick to ensure the meat does not dry but is cooked through.