Spicy Asian Chicken Wings

Todd has a hoarding problem - especially when it comes to anything made of paper from the 1990's... must have been a great decade for him???  Anyways, I'm not going to diss him too much because he has been working super hard to dispose/recycle out the clutter from his youth and he's finding some real gems! 

Today he produced a hilarious mini-cookbook from 1992 called "Favorite Slow Cooker recipes," pointing at a recipe for Easy Oriental Chicken Wings.  I was skeptical that tasty wings could be achieved in a slow cooker, but I wanted to indulge my husband for his trip down hoarder memory lane.

I looked at the recipe and decided it needed to be jazzed up with sambal oelek and got to work.  The result was super delicious, tender, meat-falling-off-the-bone wings... with a kick!

...sometimes it's better for things to stay in the 90's!

Here's the recipe:

Spicy Asian Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
2-3 lbs chicken wings
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sambal oelek or asian chili garlic sauce

Method:
In a medium saucepan, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water & sambal oelek.  Bring to a boil & simmer for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, allowing the sauce to reduce slightly.

In a large frying pan, brown the chicken wings in batches and let rest on paper towels (the recipe actually suggested doing this in a pan of shortening, but I actually browned them in vegetable oil - would I do that again?  NO!  There's enough fat on the wings, brown in a non-stick pan without extra fat).

Next step: place the wings in the slow cooker and pour your sauce over top.  According to the recipe, we are to cook on high for 2-3 hours.   At the 2 hour mark, I decided they were too "saucy" for my liking and I transferred them to a baking dish and cooked them (uncovered) for the last hour in the oven at 325degrees.  Stir couple times during that last hour, then at the end, broil for about 3 minutes, stirring at the 1 1/2 minute mark.

I like my wings more dry and sticky!!

These wings were great - most of the skin part was melted away and we were left with really tender chicken meat!  Super nom!  I served with fresh vegetables and a herb/sour cream dip that I whipped up.

THE VERDICT:
Why not ditch the slow cooker aspect completely and just cook in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes?