Recipe | Szechuan chicken wings

Jay Rayner recently wrote about the joys of getting your fingers reet mucky when eating. I can’t say I share his passion. Sure, some things must be eaten with your hands. Someone eating a burger with a knife and fork is either missing the point or at one of those ‘gourmet’ burger places with burgers taller than the water jug. But if I can avoid getting my hands dirty, I will. Call it mild OCD.

Anyroad, chicken wings and hands – a must. If there were ever a food with an inbuilt handle, it’s the chicken wing – the wingtip acts as a sort of edible cocktail stick.

So next time you’re curled up in front of the telly, get yourself a bucketsworth of chicken wings and whack the oven to 200C. Crush a tablespoon of Szechuan peppercorns in a pestle and mortar or under the back of a ladle and mix with a teaspoon of chilli flakes, a teaspoon of sea salt, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of olive oil and two teaspoons of honey. Toss through the chicken wings and lay on a baking tray. I’d recommend laying on foil, unless you want to spend the next day scrubbing. Bung in the oven and cook for 30-45 minutes until sticky and crisp. Devour with your hands and a pile of paper napkins.

14 thoughts on “Recipe | Szechuan chicken wings

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Recipe | Szechuan chicken wings « James Ramsden -- Topsy.com

  2. Oh bliss – another fab chicken wings recipe to add to my collection. I’m completely with you James, those bony little blighters are just the perfect party/comfort food and I never tire of finding (and indeed, inventing, to varying degrees of success) new ways to titivate them. I’ve given up on ever mastering my Vietnamese aunt Paulette’s method of stuffing chicken wings – it requires a patience and dexterity which I lack – but I look forward to trying this one soon!

  3. Perfect for a weekend night in front of the telly!
    Lovely recipe – I look forward to trying it out even though it might not be very lady-like 🙂

  4. I will be trying these, they look great look great.
    Its worth learning to tolerate slightly sticky hands you know. A lot of things taste better eaten off the fingers :0)

  5. I agree! Nothings beats chicken wings as the ultimate in-front-of-the-telly finger food!

    And I usually go a similar route; however, this can be improved with the addition of some (actually, LOADS) of crushed garlic and some rosemary, thyme and the likes. Also, I skip the oil. Nothing to do with calories, just prefer it that way.

    Lovely blog 😉

  6. I can’t seem to find the recipe for the szechuan wings on the blog. What am I missing.
    My husband is a huge chicken wings fan, and I would love to make this for him.

    Can you please help

      • It totally is. In my quest to get the recipe asap ( I intend doing it tonight, at this point you could have convinced me the recipe is in your book and I would have bought it ) , I admit to not reading the entire blog. However I did find a few other interesting duck recipes.

        Thanks James, will keep you posted on how my husband likes it. First order of business , finding Szechuan peppercorns

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