Do you have a deep fryer?
We got ours for like $25 at Sears and it was a good decision. The trick with having a deep fryer is to know where to put it (my kitchen has very little storage, and the deep fryer, though on the smaller side for personal frying apparatuses, is about the size of a hotel stereo), to know how to dispose of the oil (freeze, then throw it away — a big tupperware container can store a few batches of fryer oil in your freezer, then toss the whole lot of it), and to remind yourself that the category of cuisine that falls under the “deep fried” headline is a sometimes food.
The easiest thing to make with your deep fryer are chicken wings. Doughnuts and fritters require making a batter, but with wings? Your only prep is to dredge them in flour (you can season the flower with paprika, seasoning salt, oregano, whatever), which is optional (usually I skip the dredging, but it can make them crispier and give the skin a good texture).
Wash, pat dry, and disjoint your wings (sometimes they come disjointed, which is nice). Salt and pepper them liberally (you can get crazy here and add some chili powder for heat or garlic salt because when is garlic salt ever a bad idea?). Set your deep fryer for 375 and let it heat up while you get your hot sauce together.
For the hot sauce, get a saucepan and 1/2 - 3/4 of a stick of butter. Over medium-low heat, melt the butter (how much butter depends on how many wings you’re preparing); when it’s melted, add an equal amount of hot sauce (I like Crystal, but Frank’s is dope too). Generally I find these hot sauces to be lacking heat, so I add about 1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco. Whisk the hot sauce into the melted butter, remove from the heat and set aside.
In batches (and by the way, look for a fryer with a basket and a lid — mine is a Cool Daddy (I know, right? Cool Daddy?), and the lid really helps with electrifyingly-hot splatters of oil that always seem aimed at your precious eyeballs), fry the chicken wings. Don’t overcrowd them. Cook each batch of wings for 10-12 minutes, until the wings are golden-brown and floating in the oil (you can do drumettes in the same batches as your wings). Remove from the oil, set aside to drain on a paper towel, and keep going until your wings are all fried.
Toss them with the hot sauce, whipping up more sauce if necessary, which it usually is (you want ample sauce). Serve with celery sticks, bleu cheese dressing (hate bleu cheese, but like, for novelty’s sake), and beer.
Go Saints!
