Entertaining Bachelors?

My husband works with a group of high school boys at church through Christians Service Brigade. So between those boys and his co workers, we have a pretty constant flow of bachelors to entertain. When in doubt of what to cook for such events, always go for meat!!

Last night, my husband had his co workers over to play games. This is a pretty regular event where my homemade wings have been a hit every time. Wings is another dish with unlimited possibilities that I love to make. Change the sauce and voila, you got yourself a brand new dish, just let your imagination roam.

I make my own sauce at home because I like the flexibility of choosing my own flavors and not boxed in by what the grocery stores have chosen for me. There are a few tricks when it comes to wing sauce though.
1. Sugar will act as a thickener in your wing sauce, this can be in the form of soda or brown sugar.
2. For a tomato base sauce, use ketchup or tomato paste. This will also help thicken your sauce as well as adding flavor and color.
3. Just like how wine would enrich the flavor of a dish, beer does the same thing to your sauce. Totally optional but it will take your sauce to a whole new level.
4. Always boil your sauce down to thicken it but not too long or the sugar will burn and you will end up with a thick molasses-flavor sauce!

With that in mind, let's make some wings!

Wings are not hard, they are just a little time consuming. I am very much convinced that homemade wings are much healthier for you than store bought or at any restaurant. This is because I broil my wings without any extra oil. Also, making your own sauce takes care of all the extra preservatives that your body doesn't need.

To begin, broil your salt and pepper seasoned wings for 6 minutes. Then baste with sauce, broil another 4 minutes. Then flip and baste with sauce one more time. Broil for another 4 minutes. And then your wings are ready.

Here are a few recipes for wing sauces to get you started.

1. Jamican Jerk wing sauce (My husband's all time favorite on wings and anything else)
Wish together and boil to thicken:
1 cup ketchup/tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsps soy sauce
2 Tbsps Jamaican Jerk seasoning
4 Tbsps Pickapeppa sauce (You will find it next to all the other hot sauces or down the hispanic isle)
salt to taste

2. Cranberry glaze (from Cuisine at home magazine)
1/3 cup frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, thawed
3 Tbsps prepared yellow mustrad
2 Tbsps brown sugar
2-3 tsps Tabasco
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3. Sweet Teriyaki sauce
1 cup store bought or homemade teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger.
Salt to taste

With the base of ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar, the possibilities are endless. Be bold and soon you will have your own collection of wing sauce. The other plus to these sauces is you can use them on a rack of ribs!! There will be another post on ribs in the near future once the summer is here!


You will not hear from me for a few days, my husband and I are off to celebrate our first anniversary!! Until then, bon appetit!