Virginia Willis' Cola-Glazed Wings
Poultry
Ingredients
2 lbs. chicken wings
1 cup cola
Juice of 2 limes
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 jalapeño finely minced (discard the seeds)
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
To make the glaze: In a small sauce pan, bring the soda, lime juice, brown sugar and the minced jalapeno to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer until the mixture is syrupy, about 30 minutes; keep warm over low heat.
To prepare the wings: Cut off the wing tip (reserve the tips to make stock), and separate the wings at the joint. Place the wing pieces in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Pour about half the glaze over the wings and toss to coat. Keep the remaining sauce warm over low heat.
To bake the wings: Position an oven rack 4 inches below the broiler element in the oven. Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the glazed wing on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes per side, brushing twice on each side with the reserved glaze. Transfer to a platter and serve!
Notes
The recipe is from Virginia Willis' cookbook Bon Appetit, Y'all: Three Generations of Southern Cooking. The amount of jalapeno chilies in the recipe has been cut from the 3 whole chilies in the original recipe to tame the heat, but feel free to use as much as you'd like. You can also add some thinly sliced jalapenos with the wings, too.
Instead of deep frying wings, you can also bake or grill them. Grilling the wings gives them a nicely charred flavor and crisp bits that will delight any barbecue lover.