michelle picker cooks

Named for the city where they were invented, these chicken wings are normally deep-fried. Inspired by a trip to the US, Thomas made this amazing version, grilled over hot coals with a little hickory smoke and served with a blue cheese sauce.

Choose plump free-range chicken wings and season them with salt and generous amounts of freshly ground black pepper. The wings should be cooked slowly over indirect heat on a barbecue, preferably coal-fired and definitely with a little wood smoke added, then finished over direct heat to crisp them. You can find excellent advice on exactly how to cook these wings at amazingribs.com. When they’re cooked toss them in a little butter mixed with tabasco sauce to taste (we had some red habanero chilli sauce as well for extra kick!). For the blue cheese sauce Thomas made a reduced amount of this recipe by Chef John at Food Wishes. Combine ⅓ of a cup each of mayonnaise and sour cream with ¼ of a cup of buttermilk. Add 1 small clove of crushed garlic, ½ a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce, ¼ of a teaspoon each of freshly ground black pepper, dry mustard powder, salt and sugar plus a pinch of cayenne pepper to taste. Whisk well to combine. Grate 50g (1¾ oz) of frozen blue cheese (this is much easier than trying to crumble fresh cheese) and mix it into the cream base a little at a time to ensure it doesn’t clump. Cover and chill the sauce until needed, preferably for a few hours as this helps to consolidate the flavours.