La Brea Tar Pit Chicken Wings

Makes 48 hors d'oeuvres
Active time: 15 minutes; start to finish: 2 hours

It's easy to understand why chicken wings are so popular (as if all that crisp skin weren't enough of a reason). Economical and sold in just about every market, they capture the essence of relaxed entertaining: it's hard to stand on ceremony while eating with your fingers. Anyone who has ever visited the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles will understand how this great tasting hors d'oeuvre got its name. The recipe came to us from reader Metta Miller, from Boston, and it's a staff favorite.

4 pounds chicken wings, split at joint and wing tips discarded
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup plus
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Arrange wings in one layer in a large roasting pan. Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over moderately low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Pour evenly over wings. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn wings over and bake until sauce is thick and sticky, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes more. Transfer wings to a platter.

Buy the Book!

from:
The Gourmet Cookbook
More Than 1000 Recipes
by Ruth Reichl (Editor)
John Willoughby and Zanne Early Stewart (Coeditors)
Houghton Mifflin
$40.00/Hardcover: 1056 pages
ISBN: 0618374086
Recipe reprinted by permission.