Chelsea residents will find plenty of Super Bowl celebrations happening this weekend, yet most party hosts lack a crucial skill: preparing wings that actually impress.
Chef and Pitmaster Andy Husbands, who operates The Smoke Shop in Assembly Row, Somerville, warns against the common misconception that quality wings simply require a hot oven. According to him, that approach misses the mark entirely.
Proper preparation and advance planning separate successful Super Bowl spreads from mediocre ones, Husbands explains.
“Wings are so subjective,” he said. “Do you
like the small ones or the big roaster wings? I go for the big roasting ones.
You want the big, roaster wings. I’d also advise everyone to go early. Don’t go
to the store to buy your wings on Saturday. They’ll all be sold out and you’ll
get stuck with the small wings…Most everything you serve for the Super Bowl
except for ribs can be done on Saturday. That makes it so much easier. You want
it to be enough food for everybody, but you want it to be easy for you too. You
don’t want to be in the kitchen saucing wings when the Pats are scoring.”
Wings deserve centerpiece status at any Super Bowl gathering, which is why executing them correctly matters so much, Husbands maintains.
His recommendation involves a technique known as confit.
“You want the best wings, and even though
it’s a bit complicated, I would look up how to confit wings,” he said.
To execute this method properly, Husbands begins a day in advance by seasoning raw wings with salt and complementary seasonings. Many cooks make a critical error by applying sauce—whether buffalo or teriyaki—before cooking takes place. This should be avoided, he explains.
“That will hamper the wings,” he said.
“Sugars burn quickly, and you don’t want that burnt taste on the wings.”
After seasoning comes a coating of oil combined with chicken or goose fat. The wings then enter a 205-degree oven until fully cooked. Once removed and cooled, the fat is discarded. The following day, before kickoff, the wings come out of storage and go back into the saved fat on a sheet pan, then roast at 350 degrees until they reach desired crispness.
“They become crispy and rich and then you
apply the sauce, whether Frank’s Red Hot or Szechuan – whatever you want,” he
said. “That’s a fun way to do it.”
Several alternative approaches exist for game-day wings.
Deep frying at home, however, receives no endorsement from Husbands. Most kitchens lack proper equipment for this method, and the oil consumption becomes wasteful.
Low-temperature oven cooking represents another possibility after initial seasoning, but many commit the same blunder: placing raw wings in a hot oven expecting crispiness. The result instead yields dry, tough, potentially undercooked meat.
“You want to put them on very low heat and
continuously turning them gets them crispy on the outside and keeps them juicy
on the inside,” he said. “After they’re cooked (150 degree temperature inside),
you can crank up the oven to 450 degrees and flash them in until really crispy.
Then you sauce them up. That way you get them fully cooked and crispy. No one
wants raw chicken.”
For the adventurous, cold-weather grilling awaits. Husbands himself embraces the challenge, planning to grill wings and smoke ribs outdoors for his own gathering despite winter temperatures.
“I’m absolutely going to be outside,” he
said. “My neighbors all know me well. They don’t look at me like I’m crazy.
It’s more like they want to know if they can have some. It’s a passion and if
you know it love it you want to do it all the time in any weather. I have a
Traeger grill and a Big Green Egg grill and they work in all types of weather.
I might use both of them this time.”
Beyond wing preparations, Husbands offers additional buffet concepts worth considering.
A chili bar ranks high on his list. His typical setup involves preparing a large pot of chili, keeping it warm in a Crock Pot on low setting, and arranging a toppings station nearby.
“What’s cool about chili is you can keep it
in the Crock Pot, keep it hot and put out a bunch of toppings – like crushed
Fritos, crushed tortilla chips, scallions, sour cream and anything else you
like,” he said. “People can come back and forth to that during the entire
game.”
Halftime brings a second buffet option: hot dogs.
Whether grilled or boiled, quality hot dogs paired with two bun varieties create the foundation. Toppings possibilities become nearly endless—Husbands suggests kimchee, multiple mustard varieties, cheese sauce, specialty pickle relishes, and his personal favorite, sriracha ketchup.
“Guests can have fun making their own hot dog,”
he said. “You can wheel that out at halftime for something new. All of it can
be prepared ahead of time too.”
Regarding beverages, Husbands advocates for balance among beer selections. His cooler typically stocks everything spanning from Miller High Life through craft options like Trillium Brewery.
“It’s important to have something for
everyone,” he said. “I don’t want to push my passion for craft beer on someone
who wants a High Life. A High Life can be just as enjoyable as a craft beer.”
CBS broadcasts Super Bowl LIII beginning at 6 p.m.
Andy Husbands is an award-winning chef and pitmaster at The Smoke House, which operates locations in Assembly Row, the Seaport and Cambridge. This year he closed his long-established South End restaurants Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel—neighborhood institutions for decades.