Honey Miso Marinated Chicken Wings

It feels really good to cook as often as I can. Even though I love to cook, I would often go for fast food or eating at restaurants to avoid the grocery shopping and the cleaning up associated with preparing food at home. After I went to culinary school, I realized that cooking (and the shopping and cleaning up part) doesn't have to be so complicated. You can make great things from few ingredients! Like Honey Miso Marinated Chicken Wings.



Miso is a paste made from fermented soybeans. It’s most commonly found in miso soup, which gets offered to you at Japanese restaurants before you chow down on sushi. It has an intense salty and savoury flavour which they call umami. Other umamiingredients include parmesan cheese and mushrooms, so I like to think of it as that extra oomph taste. Miso comes in a pretty big package, so I’ll be working on more miso recipes in the coming weeks to make the most of the stuff.


 


Marinating is really convenient because you do it ahead of time, and the simple process of making the sauce is all that's required to get great flavours. Once you’ve created the marinade, your role in the flavour-making process is complete. While the meat soaks in the sauce, it acts like a sponge and sucks up all the flavours. 

So this is what happens: You mix together intense, spot-on flavours. The honey is for sweetness, miso for savouriness, ginger for spiciness, soy sauce for saltiness, sesame oil for toastyness and garlic because it’s garlic. The chicken wings hang out in the marinade all night long and they get really, really close. Then you roast them in the oven and they come out juicy, tender, and lick-your-fingers good.



I’ve suggested two useful tricks in this recipe:
1. Instead of chopping them up first, grate your garlic and ginger right into the mix.
2. Roast the chicken wings on a rack, as pictured above. The benefit is that you don’t have to flip the wings halfway through cooking, and because they’re lifted away from the pan, they don’t get stuck, either!

I marinated this recipe on a Tuesday and cooked it on a Wednesday. The middle of the week just got tastier.



Honey Miso Marinated Chicken Wings
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Inspired by Steamy Kitchen's version

Yield: serves 3 as a main course.
Side dish suggestion: Rice and veggies of your choice.

2 pounds (1kg) chicken wings, separated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
2 tsp ginger, peeled and grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup honey
3 tbsp white miso paste
1 pinch chili pepper flakes or ¼ tsp sriracha hot sauce
Pepper to taste (no salt – the miso is salty!)

To make the marinade, stir all ingredients except for the chicken wings together in a glass or plastic bowl until the mixture is smooth. Toss the wings in the marinade to coat. Cover the bowl tightly with a lid or plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Cover a baking sheet in aluminium foil and place a rack on top. Take the marinated chicken wings out of the fridge and toss once more in the marinade. Place the wings on the rack and discard any marinade left in the bowl. Roast the wings for 20-25 minutes or until the skin firms up and turns a deep golden brown.