Chicken Wings 500g

Celebrated for their sweet flavour and stickiness when roasted or barbecued, chicken wings are a universal favourite. Ideal for a classic American-style sweet and spicy glaze. We also love Asian flavours in a soy-based marinade with ginger, garlic and chilli.

Chef Valentine Warner says "the first thing to attack, secretly I might add, is the wings on a chicken roast. Slipping in and I'll cut both away in the hope a hungry table will not notice, scrunching them in the broom cupboard in burnt lipped, hot handed haste. Bought prepped and they are a mainstay in my house.

Here are a few variations on a theme, that being fried or grilled. I add that I always take off the tips as they yield little, make eating even messier and are best plopped in the stock.

1. Separate the at the elbow and give the divided wings an overnight buttermilk treatment with maybe say black pepper, bay, garlic and little else. They are then fit for dredging. Beat an egg into the buttermilk, return the wings and then dredge.
   
   
2. Far crispier than straight wheat flour and I'll normally use a mix of corn starch and potato flour. Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising is also an excellent choice in that all three will deliver a gluten-free and super crispy result. Dried Douglas fir needle salt can be wonderful.
   
   
3. Of course you can add to the flour such spices as cayenne, smoked paprika, ground fennel, oregano etc. Fry until crisp. Old Bay is my absolute favourite seasoning to scatter over a simpler fried wing and can be easily ordered even though from America.

Alternatively marinade for the grill in a barbecue sauce of molasses, ketchup and vinegar, you know the sort of thing.

Another absolute favourite is to do them jerk-style. This must be punchy and include allspice, garlic, thyme, fresh ginger, cloves and black pepper, brown sugar and malt vinegar. Be careful not to marinade for too long as the malt vinegar will compromise the meat. I tend to marinade with less vinegar, then adding more with a brush once grilling and also adding extra brown sugar with each turn.

Tandoori your wings in yoghurt spices and grated onion. Grill on a skewer removing the grill plate but using the lid that the bbq become more of a tandoor oven than a sausage incinerator.

Back to fried and I like to a do a simple dredge containing a lot of ground coriander a little cumin and smoked paprika. Once gilled and dip the wings into a green sauce of mainly fresh coriander with no other herbs but for a fraction of fresh mint and also containing olive oil, a little or lime juice lemon juice, a little garlic, green chilli and salt. Blitz to smooth.

Marinaded with a little Greek-style yoghurt, olive oil, cumin, garlic, honey, grated raw onion, cinnamon, a little tomato purée and lemon juice and I rejoiced in finally getting the secret mix from my favourite Lebanese grill. Honey was the real secret.

Oh yes and don't forget the patient painting over a lesser heat Japanese yakitori (grilled chicken) style.

For braises and I love the Filipinos 'Adobo' style using soya sauce, onions, garlic, black pepper, bay, sugar and white wine vinegar. It's truly delicious and brilliantly easy to make. A very reasonably priced dinner when using wings."