Try frying something right once without burning it—that’s tough. Double fry it and don’t fuck up—that’s SCIENCE.
2–4 SERVINGS
BALLS OUT
40–80 SERVINGS
20 pounds chicken wings*
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 quarts all-purpose flour
4 quarts cornstarch
1. Season chicken wings with equal parts salt and pepper—just enough to lightly coat the wings, then rub gently into wings.
2. Mix flour and cornstarch in a mixing bowl. Dredge each wing in the mix until there’s NO visible moisture on each wing. Shake off excess, then set aside on a plate or rack.
3. Pour 2 inches of oil in a pot, or enough to submerge the wings. (If you’re frying up whole wings—where the drumette, the wingette, and the tip haven’t been cut apart—pour in 3 inches.)
4. Over high heat, heat the oil to 350°F. Par(tially)-fry the wings for 10 minutes, then remove from pot, and shake off any excess oil. The par-fry cooks the chicken completely through, sealing in the flavor, while starting to form the outside crispy layer.
5. Set wings on a paper towel–lined plate or rack for 5 minutes, or until they cool to room temperature. This prevents the meat from overcooking, while keeping in its moisture.
OPTIONAL: You can store the par-fried wings in the fridge and do the second wing fry the next day. Just be sure the wings are at room temperature when you fry them.
6. Once the wings cool down, reheat the oil to 350°F and fry them a second time for 10 more minutes. The second fry crisps the wings to the point of delicious crunchiness. Remove wings, then shake off excess oil. Brush on or toss wings in a bowl with your favorite sauce (Tamarind Wing Sauce is mine!). Or, if you just want the purest form of savory crunchy-ass wings around, eat ’em as is, which I often do as a “taste test.”
7. I know I’m the stupid one out there, but when I finally realized that flavored chicken wings were just fried wings that were tossed in a sauce of your choice, I was BLOWN AWAY! I don’t know how I thought wings were flavored before, but I’m also a man-child and learning about anything new blows . . . my . . . MIND! And another funny revelation: The sauces represent specific steps in Starry Kitchen’s evolution:
Sweet Ginger Chicken WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG Sauce = lunch days
Tangy Korean Pepper Paste Wing Sauce = dinner pop-ups
Tamarind Wing Sauce = Button Mash
Okay, maybe no one cares that wing sauces are the purest symbolic form of our evolution (but I think it’s pretty cool). So for the sheer love of all wings (and for the Internet trolls who want to take a break every now and then and just eat some Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangs), we’ll include all the sauces here, together as one happy saucy family.
This took us about four years to figure out: If you refrigerate the wings overnight (or even two nights we just found out) after dredging them, the dredge will absorb all of the moisture, which produces the crispiest wings you can ever imagine.
If you have whole wings, cut the mid-joint so you have drumettes and wingettes + tips to serve. This will double the pieces of chicken wings you have, avoiding nuclear friend fallout when the wings run out. (That’s a very scary sight, too.)
* In our humble opinion, bigger wings are not always better. Less-meaty wings make the best-tasting wings.