Signature · about 3 hours of work spread over 2 days, plus 4–8 hours of brining · Serves 4
Crispy wings with Malbec and cocoa BBQ sauce
Illustrative image generated with AI, not a photo of the cooked dish.
Kitchen test pending
Chicken wings with barbecue sauce, the bar classic, made with the method of the wing collection: aromatic brine, slow confit in oil and a final crisping, for very tender meat and crisp skin before the sauce goes on. The aim is a sweet, smoky, deep bite, with the sauce as a glossy film rather than a thick coat.
The twist is to start from a store-bought BBQ sauce and turn it into a more complex one: a Malbec reduction adds fruit and acidity, the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce balance the sweetness, the paprika and chile bring smoke and heat, and the bittersweet cocoa adds depth and toasty notes without turning it into a chocolate sauce. The butter at the end gives shine and a finer texture.
Special equipment: thermometer for the confit oil; convection oven
Ingredients
Wings and brine
- 1500 g whole chicken wings (about 12 wings, 24 separated pieces)
- 1.2 liters cold water
- 84 g fine salt
- 40 g sugar
- 4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
- 8 g black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- Peel of 1 lemon, without the white pith
Confit
- Neutral oil, as much as needed to cover the wings; 15–20% can be replaced with duck fat
- 4 garlic cloves
- 4 thyme sprigs
- Peel of 1 lemon
Crisping
- Neutral oil for frying, only if frying is chosen
Malbec and cocoa BBQ sauce
- 400 ml Malbec
- 800 g store-bought BBQ sauce
- 30–40 ml apple cider vinegar
- 16 ml Worcestershire sauce
- 20–30 g muscovado sugar
- 20 g molasses
- 6–8 g smoked paprika
- 4 g ground ancho chile or crushed chili flakes
- 6 g pure unsweetened cocoa, sifted
- 40 g cold butter
- Black pepper
- 60 g shallot and 2 garlic cloves, optional, with a little oil
Finishing
- Flaky salt
- A minimal amount of unsweetened cocoa
- Microgreens, optional
Method
Wings and brine
- Breaking down. Separate each wing at its joints into drumette and flat, and set the tips aside for a poultry stock. Remove any feathers or visible bits.
- Brine. Fully dissolve the salt and sugar in the cold water and add the garlic, pepper, bay leaves and lemon peel. Submerge the wings and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours, never longer. Remove them, rinse very briefly to take off the excess salt and pat carefully dry with paper towels: the drying is what later allows a crisp surface.
Confit
- Slow cooking. Arrange the wings in a saucepan or deep dish, cover them completely with the oil and add the garlic, thyme and lemon peel. Keep the oil between 95 and 105 °C (203–221 °F) for 75–90 minutes: there should be no intense frying, only small bubbles. This cooks the connective tissue slowly and leaves the meat very tender without falling apart.
- Cooling. Remove from the heat and let them cool first in the fat; then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, ideally from the day before.
Crisping
- Drying. Lift the wings out of the oil and dry them carefully.
- Browning. Choose a method: convection oven at 225–230 °C (435–445 °F) for 12–15 minutes, turning halfway; deep-frying in oil at 180–185 °C (355–365 °F) for 2–3 minutes, or a very hot cast-iron pan, 2–3 minutes per side. They must be crisp before they touch the sauce. Since these are cooked and chilled wings, the center must reach 74 °C (165 °F): with frying or the griddle, it is best to take them out of the refrigerator 20–30 minutes ahead and, if they do not reach it, finish them for a few minutes in the oven.
Malbec and cocoa BBQ sauce
- Reduction. Slowly reduce the Malbec to about 120 ml: it should be like a light syrup, without reaching caramel.
- Sauce. If using, chop the shallot and garlic very fine and sweat them with a little oil for 4–5 minutes, without browning. Add the BBQ sauce, reduced Malbec, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, muscovado, molasses, paprika and chile, and cook slowly for 5–7 minutes. Off the heat, add the sifted cocoa and then the cold butter bit by bit, for shine and a finer texture. You can blend it with a hand blender and, for a very fine finish, strain it. The cocoa should bring depth and bitterness, not a chocolate flavor.
- Adjustments. If it is too sweet, add 20 ml more vinegar and, if needed, 40–60 ml hot water. If too acidic, 10–20 g of honey or molasses. If it has too much artificial smokiness, a little more reduced Malbec, water and vinegar, never more paprika. If too thick, loosen it with poultry stock or hot water, 20 ml at a time.
Finishing
- Lacquering. Lightly coat the crisp wings with sauce and bake them at 230 °C (445 °F) for 2–3 minutes. Apply a second thin film and bake 1–2 minutes more: the lacquer should be thin, adhered and glossy.
The dish
Use a black or stone plate. Arrange the 6 lacquered pieces slightly overlapping, with the glossiest sides up. Finish with a few flakes of salt, a minimal amount of sifted cocoa over some of the pieces and, if using, a few microgreens, and serve at once. Final look: dark mahogany, lustrous wings with barely caramelized edges, the white salt sparkling and a matte veil of cocoa.
Key points
- Dry the wings very well after the brine and after the confit: moisture prevents the crisp crust.
- Confit between 95 and 105 °C (203–221 °F), without intense frying: only small bubbles.
- Bring the crisped wings to 74 °C (165 °F) at the center before lacquering, because they start cooked and chilled.
- Add the cocoa off the heat and in measured amounts: its job is depth and bitterness, not a chocolate flavor.
- Lacquer with two thin, glossy films, never a thick coat: crisp wing, first film, strong heat, second film, finish and serve immediately.
Pairing
A young Malbec or a porter.
Notes
- Scale: the original cooks 1.5 kg of wings to share among several finishes, with sauce for 8–12 pieces of each. This recipe uses double the sauce to lacquer all 24 pieces with a single flavor, about 6 per person as a starter.
- Five-flavor tasting: you can serve one wing of each finish, in this order of increasing intensity: roasted lemon and honey, amber orange, Parmesan and black garlic, Malbec and cocoa BBQ, and spicy gochujang. The other four recipes of the collection share the same base.
- The source also suggested pickled red onion for plating, but does not explain how to make it; it was left out of this version.