Recipe: Honeyed-Hoisin Grilled Chicken Wings

Honeyed-Hoisin Grilled Chicken Wings

Serves 6

The intriguing combination of ingredients in this marinade creates extraordinarily tender and tasty wings. Hoisin sauce, honey, and orange juice give the wings a deliciously dark, caramelized character, while the wine vinegar and soy and chili sauces balance the sweetness. Strong-flavored Chinese black soy sauce (sometimes called double black soy sauce) is a pivotal ingredient. It's used to add deep color and textural substance to dishes in which it's important that a sauce adhere well to slippery ingredients such as noodles or chicken. Good brands to look for are Pearl River Bridge and Koon Chun.

This marinade works equally well with bone-in chicken breasts, legs, and thighs, but it's especially good with wings served with a big bowl of room-temperature Soba Salad (see the book).

6 pounds chicken wings
3 large oranges
2 cups good-quality regular soy sauce, such as Kikkoman
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons black soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese chili sauce with garlic
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 large cloves garlic, minced

1. Trim the tips from the wings and discard or save for another purpose, such as making stock. Rinse the remaining wings under cold running water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Grate the zest only (no white pith) from the oranges, then cut the oranges in half and squeeze the juice; you should have about 1 cup. Combine the grated zest and juice in a large bowl. Add the regular soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin sauce, honey, black soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, and garlic and whisk thoroughly to blend. Add the chicken wings and toss to coat completely, then refrigerate, covered, for at least 8 hours and up to 24.

3. When you're ready to cook, preheat a grill.

4. When the grill is moderately hot, drain the chicken wings and arrange them on the grill rack. Cook until nicely browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes on each side. Serve with plenty of paper napkins.

Buy the Book!

Staff Meals from Chanterelle
By David Waltuck and Melicia Phillips
Workman Publishing Company, December 2000
Hardcover $29.95
464 pages
ISBN: 0761116982
Recipe reprinted by permission.