More about Tuesday's dinner

When the Wing Symbol was shined on the clouds, I clearly knew what I had to do. Wings from the Wing Dome are delicious, of course, but I wouldn't feel right not at least trying to cook them. I have made them on several occasions, and they're really pretty easy. I don't bother deep frying them - that's fantastic deep fried, don't get me wrong, but deep frying at home is such a hassle and the oven really does just fine. The skin isn't as crispy, which is a loss, but they're still delicious and I don't have to do something with 8 hojillion gallons of chicken-y oil afterward.

So, on Monday, I started to do as much of the cooking as I could, since I'd be hauling it all up to Heidi's place. First on the agenda was some homemade teriyaki sauce. There are a few folks in our group that aren't huge spicy food fans, so I wanted some alternative sauces on hand. I knew that I'd be handing the Buffalo duties over to the outstanding Defcon 2 that I had in the fridge, so I'd just need some other stuff. Saska was going to bring along her "meat sauce" (not a euphamism), so I figured some teriyaki would round things out. Homemade teriyaki is dirt simple: 1 part each of soy sauce, mirin and sake, a couple tablespoons of sugar and some powdered ginger. Just boil it down until it's a nice syrupy consistency, and it's ready to go.

Next step for make ahead was the blue cheese dressing. Equal parts sour cream and mayonnaise, with plenty of crumbled blue cheese, some salt and pepper and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice just to brighten it up. If you have some scallions on hand, chop those up into it. I did not. Taste to adjust seasonings and into the fridge with it as well.

Carrots and celery didn't need any prep, so it was on to the next thing: cole slaw. Mmm, cole slaw. For a full head of cabbage, I did about 1 1/3 c. of mayo, 2/3 c. of sour cream, a decent shot of apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper. Those were the basics. I usually use a 2:1 ratio of mayo and sour cream for cole slaw, and then whatever else seems right. I almost always put in celery seeds, and I did this time as well, along with caraway. I decided to use cumin as well, and it worked out rather nicely, I thought. I rounded it out with some Dijon mustard, and the dressing was done. Along with the cabbage, shredded on my mandoline, I used three carrots and a small jicima, also shredded using the julienne blade. That too went in the fridge to meld overnight.

On Tuesday, since I had everything else put together, I just had to load up the car. Teriyaki, Defcon, cole slaw, dressing, carrots, celery, chicken wings and breasts, garlic, 3 kinds of beer, a diaper bag and some games. Oh yes, and the girl. Once at Heidi's place, I had to prep the wings. Which reminded me why I don't make wings that often. Separating the upper part from the lower part is relatively easy - just hold it with the bend away from you, slice through the skin until you hit bone, bend it all the way back to dislocate the joint, and then slice through the rest of the way. No, it's the stupid wing tips that are a hassle. Leave 'em on and they just burn, but taking them off requires aiming for this impossible to find joint or possibly just leaving little chips of bone in the wings if you just cut through anywhere. For the eight of us, I guesstimated about five pounds of wings and three pounds of chicken breasts (for the folks who don't appreciate bones), and that turned out to be about right. But it meant I had to butcher five pounds of those stupid things. Once they were done, everything got coated in some grapeseed oil (any high heat oil will do), plenty of garlic and salt and pepper, and into a 425 degree oven.

After about ten minutes I tossed everything around, and about every five minutes after that, until things had some nice color. I goosed the heat up to 450 about 20 minutes in, and I should have done that earlier, because the chicken breasts got a little overdone. I separated them into four bowls, one for each of the three sauces and the fourth as a reserve for people to dress however they wanted. Just toss them with the sauce and serve right away. The beers I brought were a six of Smithwick's, an eight of Guinness (it was St. Patrick's day) and that bottle of Duchess de Bourgogne, which is a beer that our friend Marc found which is amazing. It has that sour lambic thing going on, but balanced with a lovely amount of sweetness and just tons of character. Fantastic stuff. I thought everything came out pretty well, and I'll do wings again soon.