The Complete Book of Chicken Wings, 1985 w. Buffalo Wings, Tea Smoked, Maple Ginger Beans & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: The Complete Book of Chicken Wings, Joie Warner

Publication Details: Totem Books, 1985

Published in 1985 The Complete Book of Chicken Wings came out when the dish was still something of a novelty and had not yet exploded into the ubiquitous bar food that we know it as today.

The cookbook is written by Joie Warner, an acclaimed and prolific cooking writer who wrote for the Toronto Globe and Mail at the time. It begins with an overview of the history of the bar-style wing and its origins in Buffalo, New York at the famous Anchor Bar. There follows a section on techniques and then various sections devoted to different styles of chicken wings and sauces/side dishes.

Finally there is a humorously small section -- reflecting the far more limited range of options at the time -- that gives various places where you can eat wings in cities across North America including Canadian ones like London, Vancouver and Toronto. We have included this list as a walk down memory lane!

Otherwise we have focused on a few diverse recipes and sauces.

If you are a wing fan, tracking an edition of this one down (and there were many later ones) is a must.

Doing Chicken Wings on the Charcoal BBQ

Today we are going to take a look at what I think is the best technique for doing chicken wings on the charcoal BBQ. This method produces smokey wings with a nice char and texture, but avoids common problems when doing wings on the BBQ such as burning or the skin sticking to the grill / grill pan. 


You can use this method for wings that are simply tossed in a seasoning blend, or for wings that have been sauced or marinaded. It works either way. You could also toss wings in seasoning and then serve them with a commercially prepared or a homemade wing sauce such as the classic Buffalo Style Chicken Wing Sauce or a Spicy Mayo.

One great way to prepare them is to do your wings jerk style by following the marinading and jerk sauce preparation instructions in our post Charcoal BBQ Jerk Style Chicken and then using the wing grilling technique outlined here.

For this post I used both a commercially prepared seasoning blend and wing sauce. I also made around 3 lb. of wings.

First, I put all the wings in a large freezer bag and added Cool Runnings Caribbean Spice and Roasted Garlic seasoning, tossing the wings with the seasoning in the sealed bag until coated to taste. Again, you can use a homemade seasoning blend or any number of other variations such as Montreal Chicken Spice.

After seasoning the wings I poured a full bottle of Cool Runnings Hot Chicken Wing Sauce into the bag, sealed it and made sure the sauce was all around the wings. the Cool Runnings sauce is one of many available premade and I like its spice level and overall flavours.

Place the wings in the freezer bag in the fridge to marinade for one to two hours minimum.

When your charcoal BBQ is ready to go take the marinaded wings out of the bag and place them directly over the coals on the grill for around a minute to a minute and a half a side. Depending on how many wings you are doing you may have to do multiple batches. 

Watch for flare-ups and burning. You want a little bit of charring but not burnt wings!

Meanwhile, prepare a large aluminum foil pan by placing a layer of romaine lettuce across the bottom. The lettuce will prevent your wings from sticking to the tray. Place your grilled wings on top of the bed of lettuce arranging them so that they are, ideally, not too crowded and in a single layer. You can either discard or pour any remaining marinade over the top of the wings (I always do the latter) as in this case doing so is safe as you are cooking the wings for considerably more time. 

Place the tray right onto your grill above the coals. 

Cook the wings for 40-45 minutes or until done, flipping the wings once halfway through. You want to cook the wings regulating the heat by doing them approximately 10 minutes with your BBQ's lid down (flue open) and 5 minutes lid off. 

When done place the wings on a large platter discarding the lettuce. 

You will find these wings moist with that great charcoal BBQ flavour. Serve with all the things you usually want wings with; friends, cold beer or vinho verde, more sauce on the side, etc.

Enjoy.

See also: Southern Style Chicken Wings Stove-top Deep Fried

See also: Spanish-Style Fried Chicken Strips w. Spicy Mayo

Buffalo Style Chicken Wing Sauce -- How to make a classic at home

Today we are going to take a look at how to make a classic spicy Buffalo style chicken wing sauce at home.

This sauce is hot, tangy and delicious. It is also very easy to make.

You can either toss your wings in it, dip them or drizzle some sauce over your wings.

While many recipes use Worcestershire Sauce, I prefer to use Soy Sauce. This is a matter of taste though, so feel free to use Worcestershire instead.

Also, while I generally don't use specific brands in my recipes, for the proper flavour you really do have to use Frank's Original Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce.

In a small pot combine the following ingredients:

1 cup Frank's Original Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1 heaping tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2-3 dashes cayenne pepper
Salt to taste if necessary (I find that it is salty enough)

Blend together over medium high heat until the butter is melted, stirring constantly. Then lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly but gently, for about 4-5 minutes.

Let cool a couple of minutes and it is good to go!

This is perfect with any style of chicken wing. It is pictured here with Southern Style Chicken Wings Stove-top Deep Fried.

Sauce portions can be adjust as desired, but it is meant for immediate use. Any leftover sauce will, of course, be good in the fridge for at least a couple of days.


Perfect with some ice cold beer!

Enjoy.

See also: Southern Style Chicken Wings Stove-top Deep Fried

See also: Slow Cooker Chicken Wings

12 Great Dishes at Toronto's Asian Legend

Asian Legend is a restaurant 'chain' with several locations around the GTA including one right in the heart of Toronto's Chinatown.

I put 'chain' in parentheses as this not a chain like Mandarin or Swiss Chalet. Not at all.

Rather it is a series of restaurants that have received much praise for the quality and consistency of their dishes. The food is always excellent with solid service and modern decor.

Asian Legend has won considerable acclaim, including making Joanne Kates' 'Spend A Little' list of the 50 best Toronto restaurants where two can eat for under $65.

Asian Legend specializes in Northern Chinese fare as well as dim sum and it really does live up to the hype.

After many years of enjoying what Asian Legend has to offer, here are a dozen great dishes that make for a dozen great reasons to try Asian Legend for the first time...or to go back for the thirtieth.

1) Steamed Soup Filled Dumplings with Crab and Ground Pork - $7.99

The entire Asian Legend Dim Sum menu is excellent, and this dish is no exception.

2) Pan Fried Chicken Potstickers - $5.99

Also from the Dim Sum menu, these are a must. 

There is also a pork option as well as other fried dumplings.

3) Vegetarian Spring Rolls - $4.99

Second only to the the spring rolls at Lee Garden as my absolute favourites in Toronto

4) Deep Fried Chicken Wings (6) - $8.99

Chicken wing fan? Well you are in for a treat. These are some of the best in the city.

Gloriously crisp and moist. Totally delicious.

5) Deep Fried Tofu with Garlic Sauce - $4.99

Not a tofu fan? You will be after you try this! Perfectly lightly crisp on the outside while soft on the inside, mildly spicy with bold garlic flavours...it is as good as tofu dishes get.

6) Moo Shu Pork (with 6 pancakes) - $12.99

The pancakes are great, the sauce nice and salty and the filling very well done.

Everyone loves this dish, which you partly assemble yourself. A beef option is also available.

7) Kung Pao Shrimp - $15.99

Terrific. Spicy with peanuts and crunchy vegetables.

8) Fried Rice with Shrimps and Egg - $11.99

Every big meal needs a rice dish...and this is a good one!

9) Sauteed Eggplant with House Sauce - $11.99

The sauce is very tasty and the eggplant nicely cooked. A great eggplant dish.

10) General Tao Chicken - $13.99

Sweet and mildly spicy, crunchy and full of flavour. A crowd-pleaser.

11) Deep Fried Squid in Spiced Salt and Pepper - $13.99

The best fried squid in the city. Absolutely fabulous, spicy, crunchy greatness.

12) Sauteed Beef with Szechuan Sauce - $14.99

I love this dish. Quite spicy, the beef is as tender as it gets 

You can find their regular menu at their website.

Asian Legend has several locations. The downtown location is at 418 Dundas St. W. just east of Spadina. 416-977-3909.

See also: Dumpling House Restaurant Spadina w. Dumplings, Hot & Sour Soup and Spicy Seaweed Salad

See also: Swatow Restaurant -- Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup & more in the heart of Toronto

Southern Style Chicken Wings Stove-top Deep Fried

I love chicken wings. And I am especially fond of southern style breaded or battered wings. The pleasing crunchiness of the wings seals it for me.

While I have made wings at home, I have always done so either in the oven or using the tasty technique of preparing them in both a slow cooker and the oven that I have blogged about before.

Today I am going to take a look at making deep fired southern wings and doing it on the stove top, so no deep fryer is required! I am also going to share a trick in preparing them I picked up along the way.

To make these you need wings that have been split, so either buy them already split (far easier) or do it yourself (slightly less expensive). I did multiple batches but I will give measurements for doing a single batch of around 10-15 wings, so adjust accordingly as you go and based on the number of wings you are doing.

Nicely coated with batter

For the batter you will need the following ingredients:

1 1/2 cups self-raising cake and pastry flour (Brodie makes one, but any brand works of course)
1 tablespoon cayenne powder
1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder (such as those made by Keen's or Coleman's)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

While traditionally many recipes call for using standard flour, I found that the trick of using self-raising flour made the batter perfect both in its texture and golden appearance.

Combine all of these ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.

Pour a cup of milk into a separate bowl.

Take each wing, dip in and coat fully with the milk and then dredge in the batter mixture until coated on all sides, gently tapping off any excess.

Deep frying stove top style!

Meanwhile pour around two inches of vegetable oil (it has to be vegetable oil) into a large and deep saucepan. Set the burner to around the 7 mark and heat the oil until it has reached a frying temperature (this is around 350-370 degrees if you have the right kind of thermometer or visually when it begins to bubble slightly).

If you have a deep fryer you can, of course, use it, but this part of this post is aimed at those who do not or who want to keep it in the cupboard.

When the oil is good and hot add the wings one at a time slowly both to prevent any painful splashing and to prevent the oil from cooling too much as you add them.

Add until there are enough that the saucepan is full but don't overfill. You don't want the wings clumped together or touching too much or the batter won't cook properly.

Cook the wings for 8-10 minutes turning them in the oil a couple of times during the frying.

They should at this point come out a lovely golden brown with a full batter coating.

Let sit a couple moments on a platter covered with some paper towel (to absorb any excess oil) and season with some more salt and pepper if desired.

Serve with your favorite wing or BBQ sauce of choice. I mixed some Buffalo style wing sauce with some habanero hot sauce as a fiery suicide style dipping sauce but you can use whatever you want of course from plum, to honey-garlic, to Frank's, etc.

If you want to do a wing night platter serve with some carrot and celery slices, your dipping sauces and some blue cheese dressing on the side as well.

Goes perfect with ice cold beer and good company. Enjoy!

See also: Slow Cooker Chicken Wings

See also: Going for Toronto's best chicken wings with Irish Socialist leader Joe Higgins

Revisiting the food of Toronto's legendary BamBoo Club w. Jerk Marinade, Thai Spicy Noodles & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: The Bamboo Cooks -- Recipes from the Legendary Nightclub by Richard O'Brien & Patti Habib

Publication Details: Otherworld Booking Inc. 1997 

Toronto's BamBoo Club was a much loved fixture of Toronto's music, Queen St. W. and nightlife scene from when it opened in 1983 until it closed to the great sadness of so many in 2002.

As musician, activist and former mayoral candidate Richard Underhill put it in a terrific retrospective about the club written by Denise Benson:

“I miss the food, the Red Stripes, the downtown Caribbean feel, the cultural meeting point and the way your sphincter relaxed when you walked into the place,” he writes. “The BamBoo was a beacon of tranquility in a crazy city, a home to top-quality music and great people, a place where all were welcome and most were cool.”

In 1997 the club's owners put out a really terrific, colourful cookbook that highlighted the BamBoo's really diverse, multicultural and often quite fiery fare!

Filled with many of the patron's favourites this book is well worth tracking down for those who both want a piece of local history as well as some truly superb recipes.

The book opens with a short history of the club and is divided into sections like Sauces, Party Flavours, From the Wok and more.

Today we are sharing the history as well as, among other things, a jerk and hot sauce recipe, the recipe for their justly popular wings as well as the recipe for what they say was their all-time most ordered dish, the Thai Spicy Noodles.

If I could I would share the entire cookbook! But some of the many great recipes left out may be making an appearance down the road.

(Click on images to enlarge)