Hot Sauce Chicken Wings

My sister is craving wings during the SAH orders and when she saw me cooking up a batch on a zoom meeting, she asked for my recipe.

"Hot sauce chicken" is a staple in our household, although often we will use thighs or drumsticks instead of wings just from an efficiency standpoint. Originally from one of the "cook this not that" cookbooks (I LOVE those cookbooks. Genuinely good recipes that aren't diet or gimmicky, despite the book premise),  it's one of our three standard chicken recipes that makes its rotation through the meal prep calendar every month.

Cooked wings ready to be sauced

 The original recipe suggested using Frank's wing sauce and I agree - it's the best hot sauce for chicken that we've found, and it's available at our regular grocery store.

The secret to this wing recipe is roasting the meat with a dry rub, and then tossing in a pan of hot sauce after it's been fully cooked in the oven. The two part seasoning gives a good depth of flavor.

If using a larger cut of dark meat, such as a thigh, season it the night before you cook it. If using drums or wings, a few hours will work. However, if you've totally forgot to season them until right before it's time to throw dinner on the table, it's ok. I promise it will still be delicious.

"Hot Sauce Chicken"

Combine equal parts black pepper, *salt, and chili powder in a small bowl. Enough to lightly coat enough dark meat bone-in skin on chicken to feed whatever ravenous crowd is going to descend on your dining room. If you are as obsessed with smoked paprika as my family, shake a bit in there as well.

*depending on the salt you are using, you may want to reduce the volume of salt slightly compared to the rest of the seasoning. For Diamond kosher salt, equal quantities work well. 

Toss your chicken parts and let sit for up to 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (wings) or slightly cooler if using larger cuts (400-425 for thighs or drumsticks). Cook chicken until done.

Heat up a tablespoon of butter and enough Frank's wing sauce to coat your chicken (usually 1/3-1/2 bottle). Squeeze a lemon into it if you remember. Heat sauce until it starts to bubble.

Throw chicken parts into pan and coat with sauce.



Serve.

The Torte

Simple. Classic. Fast. Delicious. Best eaten the day after it is cooked. Uses whatever fruit is in season.

Doesn't that sound like the perfect dessert recipe?

It is. I present.....The Purple Plum Torte!

Except, it doesn't have to be plums. It can be fresh cranberries, or strawberries, or raspberries, or peaches...or whatever juicy fruit is in season. (I think fruit with a bit of tang works best to balance out the sweet dough it is piled over, as with the original suggested purple plums, but your tastes may differ).

This is THE torte recipe. If you want to read about the history of the recipe, check out Smitten Kitchen's post, and yes, always use the full Tablespoon of Cinnamon. Anytime I see a recipe in my newsfeed that features a cake topped with fruit that announces itself as "easy" and "delicious" I check and it's always a variation of this recipe. Sometimes there's lemon zest, sometimes instructions are given to butter and flour a cake pan with parchment paper at the bottom....but in the end THIS is the master recipe - the perfect blend of sweet, tart, juice, and sponge that works perfect as a cake with coffee, a fancy brunch, an afternoon treat for your co-workers, or the end of your dinner party.

"A Fruit Torte"

Cream 1/2 cup of unsalted butter and
1 cup of white granulated sugar together. Add
2 eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is well combined before adding the next one.

In a medium bowl combine 1 cup of white flour,  
1 teaspoon of baking powder, and
1 large pinch of salt. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.

Spread batter into an ungreased 9 inch spring form pan (or grease the bottom of glass square pan. Or pie plate. Or grease and flour a cake pan. Whatever).

Top with the fruit of your choice. Depending on the fruit, cut in half. It's going to be a couple of pounds. Keep in mind that the original recipe used plums cut in half so chunks of BIG fruit is fine. Fresh whole cranberries are incredible. Peaches are divine. Try a Strawberry and Raspberry combination. Remember that fresh fruit will shrink, so don't be afraid to put a lot fresh fruit on the top of your batter, but it shouldn't be stacked. Smoosh the fruit down in the batter, so they are well seated in it.

If your fruit is really sweet, squeeze half a lemon over the torte.

Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar (depending on the sweetness of your fruit) and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.

Cook in a 350 degree oven until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean, usually 45-50 minutes.

Let cool. It is best eaten the day after it is cooked.

I should have pushed the cranberries further in so that more batter was exposed on top! It was still delicious. I don't add lemon juice to the cranberries because they are already so tart. These were fresh cranberries I bought in season and then threw the bag in the freezer. I thawed them before using because I know they keep their shape and don't release juice when thawed...however for most frozen fruit, don't thaw before using.