Sweet Tea Brined Wings with Comeback Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large container or brining bag (at least 2-gallon capacity)
• •Large Dutch oven or deep cast iron skillet (5-quart minimum)
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Deep-fry or candy thermometer
• •Wire rack set over sheet pan
• •Spider strainer or slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Brew the sweet tea brine

   Brew the tea strong, twice as potent as you would drink it. Use eight tea bags in eight cups of boiling water and let them steep for ten minutes. Remove the bags and stir in the sugar and salt while the tea is still hot, whisking until completely dissolved. This is your flavor foundation. Add the peppercorns, smashed garlic, and bay leaves. Let the brine cool to room temperature, then stir in the ice to chill it down quickly.

   The brine must be completely cold before the chicken goes in. Warm brine starts cooking the meat and creates a food safety issue. Patience here matters.
2. 2

   Brine the wings overnight

   Place your wing pieces in a large container or brining bag. Pour the cold sweet tea brine over them, making sure every piece is submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours, preferably overnight. The tannins in the tea work like magic on the proteins, tenderizing the meat while the sugar and salt season it all the way through. This is the step that separates good wings from unforgettable ones.

3. 3

   Make the comeback sauce

   While those wings are swimming in tea, build your comeback sauce. Whisk together the mayonnaise, chili sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and cayenne in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it. The sauce should have a nice tang, a little heat, and enough body to cling to a wing. Adjust the hot sauce and cayenne to your preference. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors marry.

   Comeback sauce gets better overnight. If you can make it the day before, do it. The flavors settle into each other and become something greater than the sum of their parts.
4. 4

   Build your seasoned flour

   In a large bowl or paper bag, combine the flour with the Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and black pepper. Whisk it together until the spices are evenly distributed. This is your second layer of flavor. The brine seasoned the meat; now you are seasoning the crust. That's how you build depth.

5. 5

   Prep the wings for frying

   Remove the wings from the brine and pat them thoroughly dry with paper towels. This step is critical. Wet wings will splatter in hot oil and will not crisp properly. You want the surface as dry as you can get it. Let them sit on a wire rack for ten minutes while your oil heats. Room temperature wings fry more evenly than cold ones straight from the refrigerator.

6. 6

   Heat the frying oil

   Pour three inches of peanut oil into a large Dutch oven or deep cast iron skillet. Heat over medium-high until a thermometer reads 350 degrees. The temperature matters. Too cool and your wings absorb oil and turn greasy. Too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks through. At Lagniappe, we use peanut oil for its high smoke point and clean flavor, but vegetable oil works fine.

   Use a thermometer. Do not guess on oil temperature. I have seen too many home cooks end up with greasy, pale wings because they rushed this step.
7. 7

   Dredge and fry

   Working in batches of six to eight pieces, toss the wings in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. The coating should be thin and even, not clumpy. Lower them carefully into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pot; overcrowding drops the temperature and steams the wings instead of frying them. Fry for ten to twelve minutes, turning once halfway through, until deep golden brown and cooked through. The internal temperature should read 165 degrees.

8. 8

   Drain and season immediately

   Transfer the fried wings to a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Hit them with a light sprinkle of kosher salt while they are still glistening. The salt will stick to the hot crust and give you that final layer of seasoning. Let them rest for two minutes before serving. This allows the juices to redistribute and the crust to set up properly.

9. 9

   Serve generously

   Pile the wings high on a platter lined with parchment or newspaper if you want to get old school about it. Scatter fresh parsley and sliced green onions over the top. Serve the comeback sauce in a generous bowl for dipping, with extra napkins on the side. These wings are messy, and that is exactly right. Good food should require cleanup.

Chef Tips

• •Use plain black tea, not flavored. Earl Grey or chamomile will give you strange results. You want classic orange pekoe or English breakfast, the kind your grandmother kept in the pantry.
• •Double the comeback sauce recipe. You will want it on everything once you taste it, and it keeps for two weeks refrigerated. At Lagniappe, we put it on po'boys, fried green tomatoes, even french fries.
• •If your oil temperature drops below 325 degrees between batches, stop and let it recover before adding more wings. Consistent temperature is the difference between crispy and soggy.
• •For extra crispy wings, dust them in the seasoned flour twice: once before the brine, pat dry, then again right before frying. The double coating creates an incredible crunch.
• •These wings reheat beautifully in a 400 degree oven for eight to ten minutes. The crust crisps right back up. Never microwave them, you will ruin all your hard work.

Advance Preparation

• •Comeback sauce improves with time and can be made up to two weeks ahead. Store covered in the refrigerator.
• •Wings can brine for up to 24 hours. Longer than that and the texture becomes too soft.
• •Seasoned flour can be mixed and stored in an airtight container for up to a month, ready whenever the craving strikes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 325g)