Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

WHAT YOUTH EATS: HOT WINGS Not Fried, not traditional, but these wings may beat any other wings

Radical Class, cooking, wings

Super Bowl Sunday means football, yes, but also uncrowded waves and really awesome food like beer, nachos, and hot wings. All-American Sunday stuff, really. But today we’re going to talk about hot wings. I can’t really fathom watching the Super Bowl without hot wings. So after you get done shredding, tuck into these grilled little guys.

If you’ve been to Hooters and other places in the South, you’ve eaten wings a certain way, and they’re great. Order ‘em up deep fried and super spicy with sides of dressing and Coors Light to cool them down. These wings here, the ones I like more, are grilled. Maybe it’s because I’m from California, but I’d rather cook food outside with smoke and fire than inside over a vat of frying oil. These wings get their heat from a dry rub before cooking, are tender thanks to braising, get crunchy from the screaming hot grill, and get more heat from a buttery hot sauce you pour on before serving. Dip them in some cool bleu cheese dressing, which I’ll show you how to make too, and you’re on one. Let’s go!

Once you’ve got your ingredients, these things are way easy to make. What you want to do is handle the par cooking, make the dressing, and finish the prep work before the big game. That way, instead of slaving in the kitchen, you’ll be killing it over the grill, watching the game, and sipping on a beer. That’s living.—Paul Brewer

STEP 1 (do early): DRY RUB AND PAR COOK

In a huge bowl, mix together a dry rub: lots of chili powder and a lot less of dry mustard, cayenne pepper, paprika, cracked pepper, ground cumin, and salt. I’m not specific here because there’s no need to be, and if you’re missing something on the list besides chili powder, don’t stress.

Wings_Smoke

For the Chicken***, get about 1 lb per person, or less if you’re having nachos and stuff too. Rinse and pat dry the chicken with a towel. Consider trashing that tainted towel. Toss the chicken in the dry rub mixture. Next, grease a baking dish with butter, throw the wings in, add ¼ cup of water, and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. They’ll be tender and cooked through at this point. Put them aside until you’re ready to grill and party.

STEP 2 (do early): MAKE BLEU CHEESE DRESSING/CUT UP CARROTS AND CELERY

  • 1 cup blue cheese, crumbled
  • 1 cup mayo (or a mix of mayo and plain, unsweetened yogurt)
  • A few splashes red wine vinegar
  • Handful of chives, minced
  • Salt and cracked pepper to taste

Mix all that. If you can let it sit in the fridge for a couple days, the flavors will get better. Also take this time to cut up some celery, carrots, and/or cucumbers for dipping.

STEP 3 (do early): MAKE HOT SAUCE

  • Franks Red Hot Sauce
  • ½ stick butter

Put both these things in a small pan over low heat around the time you fire up your grill. You can even put it off to the side of your grill. Stir and melt the butter into the hot sauce. Keep to the side and warm.

STEP 4 (do early): MAKE A BASTING LIQUID  

The point of grilling the wings is to make them smoky and crispy. So be ready with a basting liquid of 1 cup of water with a bunch of honey—the sugary water will make the wings sticky and crispy. Mix it up and have it ready by the grill.

STEP 5 (do at party time): GRILL AND ASSEMBLE IT ALL

When it’s go time, get your grill as hot as it’ll go, and throw those wings on there. Get that chicken skin good and charred by basting as you go with your honey water. When they’re looking crispy, mix the wings with the buttery hot sauce and serve it with a big bowl of blue cheese dressing and all the cut up veggies. Eat!

*** Side note: When you buy wings, be smart. They should be affordable. Some sneaky stores will sell “party wings” for a premium, like $5 a pound, while you’ll see “wings” for a dollar or two a pound. All they’ve done is break down the wing into its three parts: the drum, the wing, and the tip (which is good to save for stock or trash). So skip that hustle and save some cash: break out your chef’s knife, split them at the joint, and make your own party. 

WHAT YOUTH EATS: AGUACHILE Another Raw One: Sinaloa Spicy Shrimp

If you’ve been following along, you know that we’ve gone raw at WhatYouth.com for the last few weeks. We’ve played with raw tuna a couple different ways (here and here), and got fancy and fresh with a raw beef tartare last week. It’s been fun, delicious, and the whole experiment has opened up our late…

what youth eats, raw, radical class, paul brewer

WHAT YOUTH EATS: RAW BEEF The latest in our Raw Series: Steak tartare is the primest of the prime.

For the last few weeks we’ve gone raw. We’re doing it all for the flavor — an exercise to experience great ingredients at their root essence, with a secondary win of less time cooking and more time having summertime fun outside (making raw things takes less time, duh). So far we’ve focused on fish and…

Tuna Don, Adam Warren, What Youth Eats

WY EATS: Spicy Tuna Don Another hit from our RAW series — best washed down with ice cold Kirin

Its time to expand on our RAW capabilities here. And just like the Mediterranean version of the albacore crudo that you’ve already mastered, we are leaning on our Japanese influence of raw efficiencies for our next dish: The Spicy Tuna Don. “Don” is short for “donburi” which is a traditional Japanese dish where any number…

what youth guide to the bar

WY Guide: The Bartender Getting a drink in a crowded bar is an art. Here’s your paint set.

As Shane Dorian famously said in Loose Change: “What’s your poison man?” That ageless, sometimes slightly altered greeting has been heard by bar patrons since the first bar opened circa 900 AD. And after 1100 years of human interaction at these establishments one would hope there would be some orderly and respectful manner one might…

WHAT YOUTH EATS: RAW The first in a Series: Albacore Crudo

For the next couple of weeks, I’m going raw. This isn’t some nonsense trendy food fad out of Beverly Hills: this is all about efficiency and simplicity. Efficiency because eating raw means less time in the kitchen and more time outside shredding through summer. Simplicity because I won’t have to develop complex sauces and spend…

what youth dead writers shirt

The WY Dead Writers T-Shirt Before it’s gone here’s why it exists

We still read…actual books even. And while a lot of our favorite writers are long gone, their influence is still smothering us. They’ve left us with piles and piles of great reading, insight, fucked up situations, and maniacal living to read about. This shirt is an ode to them. Here’s a run through who they…

what youth drinks tequila

What Youth Drinks: The Paloma Cuz it’s just so damn hot outside

It’s officially summer now. And since we’ve already taught you how to order a margarita the right way here, now it’s time to learn how to make the G of all tequila cocktails best drank in the sun: The Paloma. If the margarita is the popular girl in high school that everyone knows, then the Paloma…

Radical Class, What Youth Eats

What Youth Eats: Huevos Rancheros Your weekend mornings are now better

Huevos Rancheros hold a special place down deep in my gut. Growing up, when dad wasn’t at work on weekend mornings, we’d wake up early to surf the Cliffs, then he’d take me to Georges Mexican Food right by our house in Huntington Beach for breakfast. Every time the order was the same: two orders…

What Youth, Radical Class, Paul Brewer

WHAT YOUTH EATS: WITHOUT RECIPES Try this, then go rip into it

Learning to cook and make cocktails is a funny process. We read cookbooks, we watch TV shows, maybe we try a recipe or two from whatyouth.com. For the most part, we get set up with a list of instructions, and we’re expected to follow it closely or else it will be ruined. That’s a process that’s…

what youth eats our veggies

WHAT YOUTH EATS: OUR VEGGIES Skip the Meat with Grilled Mushroom Risotto

You’re eating your veggies, right? For those of you who just need meat with your meals, may I offer mushrooms instead. Here, the mushrooms are grilled to give a deeper, nuttier flavor, and combined with creamy rich risotto. Once you get the hang of risotto, it can be a quick dinner. Until you get the hang of…

what youth memorial day

Radical Class: On Memorial Day Celebrating and Remembering in Equal Parts

These days, Memorial Day is all about burgers and beers, beach days and maybe some deeply discounted retail shopping. But, of course, it isn’t. It’s about war and the people who fought in them — namely the Civil War, where 620,000 Americans died. Where today’s Memorial Day is little more than an excuse to party…

What Youth Eats: On a Trip Bridging the disconnect between great waves and crappy food on surf trips

I haven’t been lucky enough to be on a fancy boat trip with a private chef, but I have been on plenty of surf trips where we’re in the middle of nowhere without so much as a taco stand in sight. So what to eat? Usually it’s an early question on that road between the…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.