Baked Chicken Wings That Don't Suck

One of my favourite foods in the whole world are chicken wings.  While not typically a gourmet selection, I frequently order wings for meals or snacks, and am repeatedly disappointed with the results.  Still, time and again I will order wings - when they are good, there is nothing like the combination of their fatty goodness and beer.

I have spent a lot of time living near Buffalo, NY - home of the buffalo style chicken wing.  These are typically served coated in a vinegar based hot sauce mixed with butter and served with a blue cheese dressing for dipping.  When coupled with a good quality, meaty chicken wing and a tasty beer or three, this is my all time favourite food.

While a rant on the availability of good wings in Alberta, and the tendency of so many establishments to ignore the key component (the wings themselves) of this dish will follow at some point, I thought I would share a chicken winging that I was pleasantly surprised with.  Every awesome chicken wing I have ever eaten has been deep fried at some point - until tonight.

I went to Le Grand Orange in Phoenix for the third time this week (2 previous visits at lunch for a killer BLT with enough glistening, perfectly cooked bacon to make you go back again the next day).  I ordered a roast corn and goat cheese pizza for my main meal, but thought I would try their baked chicken wings for an appetizer.  Everything else I had there was good - these certainly couldn't be any worse than what I get back home.   I'm not going to write about the pizza - it was redongulicious - but I expected it would be.  The wings on the other hand were surprisingly excellent.

The dish was plated with a radish the size of a small apple and plenty of delicious, house-made blue cheese dressing.  Most importantly, the wings were big, meaty and juicy.  I've always believed that if you start with crap, you'll end up with crap, and starting with a good, quality piece of meat is crucial whether you're cooking a steak, a pork chop or chicken wings.  The sauce was not as spicy as I prefer, but the combination of a juicy wing and this blue cheese sauce was so delicious, I nearly forgot that they weren't deep fried at all.  They even came served with a warm, moist towel for cleaning your hands after.  Awesomeness.

Baked wings - I shall scoff no more at thee.