5 Wings – fresh, or thawed fully. I like the bigger ones if you can get them.
Dry mix - Put together in a bowl 1 cup of flour and about a tsp or so of Italian dried herbs. I use something called McCormick’s Perfect pinch Italian seasoning but you could make your own blend easy enough. Add about two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese… either the stuff that comes in the green canister or if you’re using fresh you’ll want it grated very fine, like tiny breadcrumbs. Some folks would add a shake of salt to this, but that’s up to you.
Wet mix – crack either one extra large or two regular eggs into a separate bowl. I use two. Add a tsp or more garlic – fresh, or the stuff that comes in a jar from the store. Add a few drops of olive oil. Beat that all up til frothy.
I heat up a little marinara or spaghetti sauce to dip in, and add a little more Parmesan to it.
Take the wings, roll them quickly in the dry mix, and then let them sit for a bit – at least 15 minutes. This helps the chicken dry so the crust will form better. While they are sitting, mix up the wet mix.
Take your wings that have been sitting resting and dip into the wet mix to coat them. Then dip them again into the dry mix fully covering them. Lay them out on a small rack or plate that will fit in the fridge. This works best if one hand coats with the wet mix, and another coats with the dry mix. The wings now sit either overnight or for at least a hour or so in the fridge. Don’t stack them up, lay them flat. This seems like a silly thing but I’ve discovered that this resting cold with the dry-wet-dry coating really makes a difference in how crunchy they are.
I deep fry these wings in Crisco. I’m lucky enough to have a secondhand deep fryer (a Presto – Granpappy fryer), but you could do it in a cast iron Dutch oven on the stove. You’ll want about three inches of Crisco, so get yourself a couple of big cans, and just commit that fat to deep frying*. Heat the fat up to 350 degrees before you start. Make sure there’s plenty of room for them to fit – I add one at a time, and sometimes if they are bigger only do three at a time, In a Dutch oven, probably 5 at a time is fine. The wings should reach an internal temp of 165 degrees. In the Fryer this takes 7-8 minutes, but your time may vary.
* Once you’re done cooking the wings in the cast iron pan, let the whole thing go cold. The Crisco can be used again for a number of times.
