J. Timothy’s Taverne in Plainville, Connecticut is famous for its dirt chicken wings, a method which gives the wings a double frying and a double saucing. It’s no wonder that J. Timothy’s award-winning wings turn up year after year on “Best of” and Top 10 lists.
But how to do a dirt chicken wing at home? Jim Welch, co-owner of J. Timothy’s, and one of the chicken wing kings in our region, assured us that anyone can dirt chicken wings (dirt is a noun and a verb!). You don’t need a restaurant-grade deep fryer or a fancy fryolator.
Cook the chicken wings through. You have a few options, here. You can do this by baking them in the oven (at 400˚) or on the grill. Or, for this first cook, Jim suggests boiling the wings—that way you’re rendering out some of the fat and you’re not putting the chicken under high heat twice.
Whatever method you use to cook the wings, once cooked through, sauce the wings (you can buy a prepared sauce at the market or at J. Timothy’s) or make your own. Some flavor options we brainstormed on The Food Schmooze®:
Mexican Mole
Argentinian Chimichurri (parsley, garlic, olive oil, plus a splash of vinegar or citrus or crushed red pepper, if you like)
Jamaican Jerk (all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, scallions, pickled jalapeño pepper)
Indian (curry powder, coconut milk, garlic)
Italian (balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, butter, olive oil, garlic, flat-leaf parsley)
Truffle (truffle flour, truffle oil, garlic, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, truffle salt)
Once sauced, put the wings under heat for a few minutes to caramelize that sauce. If you use your broiler, watch the oven carefully. You don’t want to burn the sauce on, you just want to caramelize it and crisp up those wings.
Before serving, sauce those wings one more time. One man’s “dirt” is another man’s ultimate chicken wing.
Thank you. We moved fromCT to AZ 11 years ago. I purchase your sauce but just can’t get the result that we miss.
Oddly, the provided recipe makes no mention of when/how to use the deep fryer that is crucial for a good Buffalo wing. I was also told by J Timothy’s staff that the wings should be refrigerated after the initial cooking / saucing process.
In the audio, we discuss how no one at home will actually have a deep fryer.
Um, I think most do, or can figure out how to do it in a pot on the stove.
Deep fried is the way to go with wings! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
The only other option(that I’m aware of) for crispy wings without frying is to coat them with baking powder, and a bit of salt, and let hang out in the fridge overnight on a rack. Then bake them at high heat in the oven. Pretty close to fried, without all the mess. This is How I do the when catering a large group. So much easier than frying in batches!
I’ve made them exactly the way the recipe said to cook it and I did do it in a deep fryer and they came out about as close as you could get them to the Resturaunt version!!!! They were excellent!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these!