La Brea Tar Pit Chicken Wings

Sunday afternoon, I made two old faithfuls for the family party that evening.  Aunt Bebe's Bean Bowl from the I Hate to Cook Book and Casa d'Angelo Salad from Just Peachy. 

I thought I'd take a couple of newbies but niece Samantha was celebrating her birthday and it's her favorite and she requested it... And, I'm a sucker for those kids :-)  I told my brother, John, a couple of weeks ago that I was hungry for three bean salad.  Looks like it got him hungry for it too because that was his request.  John was making teriyaki flank steak and barbecued chicken.  Pat, his mother-in-law was bringing potato salad.  Megan, who's married to my sister-in-law's cousin (I know it's complicated, isn't it!) brought pasta salad.  We really didn't need anything else. 

BUT, (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) who wants to try a new wing recipe and not share?  I bought seven pounds of wings at Sams and made a double recipe.  There were twenty people at the MOPS party.  (MOPS is short for everyone's last name.)  The wings lasted mere minutes.  Even Mom who was inside putting the finishing touches on the strawberry torte wanted another.  Not only were these incredible, but they were easy.  Chop off the tips, chop at the joint, make the sauce, bake.  These will go on the annual client appreciation party menu even though I have a rule about food that leaves detritus.  And, my guess is they'll be at family parties from now on. 

Just as a side note, if you're not familiar with the La Brea Tar Pits, they're well worth seeing.  They're downtown in LA and not the easiest place to find.  But, they're fascinating. Connie and I were there in 2006.  One of the cool things about my career is that everyone is encouraged to bring their spouse/significant other to all the conferences.  Since my cost to do so is at most tax on his airfare, he's been able to go to some pretty cool places with me.  In this case, we also went to San Juan Capistrano and the Getty Museum.  Wandering just a little bit of the Getty took a lot longer than we thought it would so we got to the tar pits after closing.  Here are the photos we took:

La Brea Tar Pit Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

3 lbs chicken wings
1 c soy sauce (use Kikkoman - don't use the cheap stuff)
1/2 c red wine
1/2 c dark brown sugar

Directions:

Chop off the tips of the wings.  Split them at the joint.  Mix the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and heat the sauce until the sugar has dissolved.  Put the chicken wings in a baking dish (darker is better) and pour the sauce over. 

Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  Turn the wings and bake for another hour.  The sauce will turn into almost a lacquer.  Serve warm.

from Best American Recipes, 2005-2006, originally published in the Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl from a recipe submitted by Metta Miller