American hot wings with ranch dressing

These used to be one of the most popular items at my old restaurant The Dip. It’s crazy to me how much fried chicken there is in Australia these days, but wings cooked like this are really hard to find!

Credit: Danielle Abou Karam

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 kg chicken wings
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 40 g butter
• 250 ml (1 cup) Frank’s hot sauce, or any hot sauce
• ½ bunch celery, cut into sticks

Ranch dressing

• 355 g (1½ cups) whole egg mayonnaise
• 370 ml (1½ cups) sour cream
• ½ cup finely chopped chives
• ¼ cup finely chopped coriander
• ¼ cup finely chopped mint
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp black pepper
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. For the ranch dressing, place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. Add more lime juice and salt to taste if necessary. This can also be made in a food processor or blender. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Cut the wings at their joints into 3 segments. Discard the wing tips.
3. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a large saucepan to 140°C. Fry the wings for 12 minutes or until the skin starts to brown. Remove from the oil. You can cool and freeze the wings after this point if you want and fry them up to serve later.
4. Increase the deep–frying oil temperature to 180°C. Fry the wings for another 5 minutes or until super crispy.
5. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan, then stir in the hot sauce.
6. Place the cooked crisp wings into a large glass or metal container and pour the hot sauce over the top. Cover with a lid and shake until the wings are evenly coated in the hot sauce. Remove the wings from the sauce onto a serving plate and serve with the celery sticks and ranch dressing. 

 

Photography by Danielle Abou Karam.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.