Chicken Wings Cookoff....a little help here?

[tollbaby]

raw onion slices marinated in water, vinegar and a bit of sugar overnight (NO MORE THAN ONE NIGHT, or they go funny). Crisp, refreshing and a delicious complement to chicken wings... (use Vidalia or Spanish onions, red onions will dye the vinegar and it'll end up looking funky, although pickling red onions with cauliflower is effing AWESOME) also pickled carrots (just stick them in pickle juice in the fridge for a day or two). Pickled asparagus too... noticing a theme here?

You could also do grilled zucchini and eggplant spears (more frenchfry like accompaniment) or just do crudites but they're boring.

For the record, my list of kitchen failures is limited to the fingers on one hand, and each failure involved using a prepackaged food or mix of some sort LOL

[Jester]

For the record, my list of kitchen failures is limited to the fingers on one hand, and each failure involved using a prepackaged food or mix of some sort LOL

Oh, come on now. Failures are good. While they are exasperating at the time, they teach us as much if not more than successes do.

No, I'm not just talking about the kitchen, though this certainly applies in there.

[charred]

Have you considered okra?

[Jester]

The Great Celery Experiment seems to have taken a bizarre and unforseen turn.

After leaving the salted celery to drain through a colander, I went to rinse them off....and they were all uncharacteristically LIMP. Which they most clearly were not when I put them in there. Three possibilities: leaving them out unrefrigerated caused this; salting and dehydrating them caused this; both caused this.

Not giving up hope completely, I rinsed the salt off the celery sticks, and currently have them marinating in beer. In the fridge. I'll know more by morning.

Have you considered okra?

Much the same way I've considered scabs. Sometimes they're there without my consent, but I still don't like them.

[Jester]

It's official. The Great Celery Experiment is an utter and abject failure.

The celery is as limp as pasta noodles, and just as bad, if not worse, it tastes completely of salt.

As I've never tried dehydrating something in this manner, I have no idea what went wrong, but I would guess a combination of: too much salt, too long a time in the salt, and too warm (room temp). Probably more the first two than the last one.

I pitched the celery and am just going to ignore them at the cookoff, as frankly, I don't think you need them with wings anyway. And I've spent enough time on them (and procrastinating), time to get to the store, get my last ingredient, and get cooking.

I do want to try this experiment again some time....all it cost me was a bag of celery, 1.5 (cheap) beers, and some salt. I still believe I can make it work. (For the record, the celery that soaked in beer at the bar was still completely crisp after hours in the beer. So that part should work.)

[Kittish]

Well, since celery IS mostly water, of course it's going to go limp if you remove a significant portion of the water. If it's not TOO limp, it can be rehydrated, but it sounds like the salt may have pulled too much water out for it to be able to recover. Maybe next time you want to try beerinating your celery, just leave it out at room temperature for a day or two with no salt, then trim the ends and set it to soaking. Trimming the ends is important, gotta give the beer a way to get in.

I've had a few very notable and memorable failures in my kitchen. I do a LOT of experimenting with different combinations, and back when I was younger I didn't always forsee how different flavors would (or would not) work together. I think my biggest failure is possibly something along the magnitude of your mushroom thing, Jester.

[Jester]

Maybe next time you want to try beerinating your celery, just leave it out at room temperature for a day or two with no salt, then trim the ends and set it to soaking.

I think next time I'll just salt it for less time, checking on it more frequently. I never even thought about what dehydrating it might due to its physical structure. Lesson learned.

Trimming the ends is important, gotta give the beer a way to get in.

Even if I didn't know that, I had the celery trimmed down and cut up to celery stick size. I did not have full stalks dehyrdrating or beerinating, thank you very much.

I think my biggest failure is possibly something along the magnitude of your mushroom thing, Jester.

For the record, the mushroom dip was not my biggest failure. It was just my most recent and dismal failure.

[Sliceanddice]

if you wanna stick to the veggie chaser thing you can do radish thought it would be best if it had a artistic flaire like i dont know radish roses

[Jester]

I personally don't care for radishes, and don't really see them going with wings.

And with that, I think I am just going to concentrate on making the sauces and the wings, and if people want veggies, well....I'm sure there will be plenty around.

I have enough damn work to do as it is, I've procrastinated too damn much, and the celery can kiss my ass.

[Sliceanddice]

i personally would just cut up bell pepper in to little spears and serve it with carrrot sticks cause i always think celery is too blah and chew to go with wings, but peppers have a pit of sweet and a tang that works.

[Sapphire Silk]

Jester, do you mind sharing your wing sauce recipes?

I bought some hot sauce years ago with the fantasy of making wings that taste like the ones at Wings to Go (loved their wings). But I've been overwhelmed by the plethora of recipes I've found on the Internet and am looking for some suggestions.

[Jester]

Jester, do you mind sharing your wing sauce recipes?

Well, I don't really have any yet. But depending on how it comes out, I may share it, I may not. (Not certain.)

That being said, what I like in a wing sauce may be different than what you like. If you tell me what kind of flavors you're going for, I can definitely suggest various ingredients to help you achieve that.

Keep in mind, though, that I am not in any way familiar with Wings to Go or their sauces. So I would need something more to go on, i.e., the specific style/flavors you are looking for.

[Shpepper]

The salt method of dehydrating the celery is always going to make the celery limp. When you put salt on celery, it breaks down the cell walls which in turn takes away the crispness of the celery.

I would say, try a different, stronger beer. It will be more expensive at first, but to get the flavor you are looking for, try a darker more hoppy beer. I am sure you know what I mean by that. I think it might have something closer to the desired effect. One of my favorites is Dead Guy from Rogue Brewing in Oregon. I know it's available on the East Coast. You might also talk to your microbrew drinking friends and see if they can recommend a stronger flavored beer for you to try. They might even be willing to buy it if they get to sample the results.

[Sapphire Silk]

Well, I don't really have any yet. But depending on how it comes out, I may share it, I may not. (Not certain.)

That being said, what I like in a wing sauce may be different than what you like. If you tell me what kind of flavors you're going for, I can definitely suggest various ingredients to help you achieve that.

Keep in mind, though, that I am not in any way familiar with Wings to Go or their sauces. So I would need something more to go on, i.e., the specific style/flavors you are looking for.

Here's hoping it goes well. I like the original Buffalo style sauce. I don't care much for BBQ, teriyaki, sweet and sour, etc. I like them medium to hot. Don't know if that helps.

Good luck at the cookoff. Hope it goes well

[Jester]

I would say, try a different, stronger beer. It will be more expensive at first, but to get the flavor you are looking for, try a darker more hoppy beer.

Of course I know what you mean. I am a beer-drinking fool, not to mention a beer snob. However, I didn't want the beer to be too dark, because generally speaking, the kind of beer most people drink with wings is going to be lighter. I hope there is another way to pull some of the moisture out of the celery that doesn't break it down so much. If not, not. Just another failed experiment in my Mad Scientist's kitchen.

One of my favorites is Dead Guy from Rogue Brewing in Oregon. I know it's available on the East Coast. You might also talk to your microbrew drinking friends and see if they can recommend a stronger flavored beer for you to try.

I love Rogue in general, and Dead Guy specifically. I recently tried their Iniquity, and whoa, mama! that's a beer! And not only is Rogue available here, I know several bars where I can drink it, not the least of which is my very own establishment.

Here's hoping it goes well. I like the original Buffalo style sauce. I don't care much for BBQ, teriyaki, sweet and sour, etc. I like them medium to hot. Don't know if that helps.

Good luck at the cookoff. Hope it goes well

Thank you.

I was aiming for sweet, smokey, and hot. Something like Southwestern meets barbecue meets buffalo. I got the heat, and I got the smoke, but didn't quite get it as barbecuey as I would have liked....but all in all, I like it. Now I am just praying I know what I'm doing and the wings cook enough. I am trying to smoke them in my oven, with a homemade smoker, something I have never done....so I guess I really don't know what I'm doing, and am merely praying to the food gods that I guessed right!