Food purists avert your eyes, DOMINI KEMPhas surrrended to the sticky pleasures of chicken wings.
IF I’M WEARING my fancy fine-dining hat, then I truly despise chicken wings and all that they represent, with their low-brow greasy, spicy, blobby bits of fried skin. I have defended chefs who refuse to make them, explaining to punters that they really are the worst of the worst, in culinary terms. Needless to say, when one is foisted on me, I will reluctantly gobble it down, then momentarily marvel about the fact that they can be very tasty. But then I have to get them out of my sight and smell. So, it was to my absolute shock and horror that some of my chefs said they wanted to start doing them in Itsa4. “Are you mad?” I said. “I’ve been protecting you from having to make this culinary, car-crash medley of greasy, spicy, bony gristle, and now you actually want to reverse this trend and get frying?”
Once I had picked myself off the floor, they gave me some to sample and I have to say, they were pretty good. But, I am still not a complete convert and can’t believe they have been such a bunch of turn-coats.
Anyway, the story of the winged creation is rather muddled. There are several different legends about how the Buffalo wing came to be. According to my extensive and in-depth research (okay, I searched online), they were first prepared at the Anchor Bar, in Buffalo, New York by Teressa Bellissimo, who owned the bar with her husband, Frank. Story A is that their son was tending bar one night, and a group of his friends from college turned up hungry. Teressa, the good mom, rustled up the infamous snack. And while the hungry jocks were waiting for their feast of wings, Teressa gave them some celery sticks and blue-cheese dip to munch on. So far, so good. Teressa 1, Frank and son, 0.
The second story takes a new twist. The son, (perhaps wanting to steal back some of the good Samaritan limelight from mom) told a New Yorkerreporter that he wanted to serve up a tasty snack on a Friday night for all the Catholic patrons that used to frequent the bar. Although he did credit mom for making the dish, it seems as though the idea was his to serve them up in the first place. Teressa 1, Son 1.
The third version of the story is that wings were delivered to the bar by mistake and hubbie Frank got his missus to do something with the wings instead of chucking them out. Frank 1, Teressa 1, Son 1.
I have tweaked a recipe from Tom Aikens, a little Michelin scamp of a chef in London who cooks some very fancy grub. I figure his recipe is high-brow enough for me to plagiarise. The second is another tweaked cake from Tessa Kiros’s Falling Cloudberries.
Marinated chicken wings (serves six to eight)
You need to start this 24 hours ahead of time.
2kg chicken wings
Big knob of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
Bunch of thyme
Few green chillies
Few stalks of lemongrass, bashed or chopped up
Few kaffir lime leaves (if you can get them; try an Asian food store)
Salt
Put the wings in a large saucepan with all the rest of the ingredients. Season well, cover with cold water and gently bring up to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Spoon off any scum and fat that collects on the surface with a big spoon. Drain and allow to cool. If the stock is relatively scum- and fat-free, you could reduce it down and keep it for stock.
Marinade
100g butter
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
Few red chillies, finely sliced and de-seeded
Big knob of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
150g soft brown sugar
50ml soy sauce
50ml mirin or rice-wine vinegar
Sesame seeds for garnish
While the chicken is cooking, make the marinade. Melt the butter and sesame oil and sweat the garlic, chillies and ginger until they start to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.
Toss the marinade with the drained chicken wings and when the mixture has cooled down, marinate in the fridge overnight.
When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 200 degrees/gas six, and cook the wings in a big roasting tray. You might have to do this in two batches as you don’t want them to stew, but rather to crisp up. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or longer if necessary, until starting to char. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and serve while they are still hot.
Strawberry cake
220g flour, sieved
3 tsp baking powder
180g caster sugar
180g melted butter
140ml warm milk
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large punnet strawberries (about 450g)
2 tbsp icing sugar
250g mascarpone
250ml cream
Few tablespoons of honey
Another tsp vanilla extract
Grease a roughly 22-centimetre spring-form cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas four. Mix the flour with one teaspoon of baking powder and the sugar. Add the melted butter and milk, and whisk using an electric beater. Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, and add the remaining two teaspoons of baking powder. Fold this into the flour mixture, pour into the greased tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool fully.
Remove the hulls from the strawberries and sprinkle them with icing sugar. Whisk the mascarpone with the cream, honey and vanilla extract. Spread the mascarpone on top of and in the middle of the cake (which you could slice in half). Top or sandwich with the strawberries, which you could slice in half or leave whole. This cake doesn’t hold well, so make, decorate and eat on the same day.
See also www.itsa.ie