Hot Lips Wings

Once you taste these chicken wings, you will see why they were given the name Hot Lips Wings!
 
     I was working as the chef at a trendy sports bar in Florida when the hot chicken wing craze started.  Our menu was written with the names of popular sports teams that were applied to each offering.  Detroit Black & Red Wings were the only wing recipe that we had on the menu.  Black & red wings were basted with wing sauce and par baked, before frying, so the dark black highlights would be more pronounced.  The Black n Red Wing recipe par baking technique is used to prepare the wings for this Hot Lips Wings recipe.
     I first made this hot wing recipe as an employee snack at a caribbean style resort.  A few years later, I was the Chef at an English Pub.  At that time I grew twelve different rare strains of very hot chile peppers for the restaurant to use in recipes.  I made the Pub's hot pepper sauces from the fresh picked hot peppers and I also made some great chutneys.  I was very aggressive with the specials du jour at that English Pub and I always posted an interesting appetizer on the board.
     I often sold a varieties of nice gourmet hot wing appetizers as specials du jour.  I made a papaya chutney one night at the pub and I got the idea to create a hot chicken wing sauce with some of the chutney.  The sticky sweet tropical fruit and hot chile pepper wing sauce easily stuck to the lips.  The reaction of anybody that ate these wings was to lick their lips.  The sticky papaya chutney wing sauce was very spicy hot from the orange and red habanero chile peppers in the recipe, so licking the lips just spread the spicy chile pepper heat.
    When I started the evening shift at the pub, I always sent a complimentary small side dish of the evening's appetizer special to one of the regular customers so they could share it with other patrons.  "See food - Eat food" is the old restaurant business expression.  I sent a plate of these sticky hot papaya sauce wings out to be sampled as usual.  As soon as the customer tried the wings, they said "Hey!  These wings are really great!"  Next thing you know, the rest of the bar's patrons ordered the spicy hot papaya wing special appetizer!
     When the sticky hot wings were being munched on by customer sitting at the bar, it was a very funny sight to see.  Everybody at the bar could not stop eating the wings once they started!  The tropical sweet papaya chutney flavor was very captivating and it drew them in.  The sticky sauce stuck to the customers lips and then the habanero pepper heat started to kick in.  Everybody started to uncontrollably lick their lips!
     The barmaid could not stop laughing.  I made a funny off the wall comment in jest about oral sex to the barmaid and she was laughing so hard that she had to go hide in the kitchen!  A bar full of customers licking their hot lips was a very funny sight to see!  Every patron at the pub's bar earned the nick name "Hot Lips."
     I then walked over to the evening's special du jour board and changed the name of these wings to "Hot Lips Wings!"  The Hot Lips Wings were a smash hit!  Every time that I cooked them at that English Pub, customers in the know waited for the lip smacking to begin, then they chided the wing eater by saying "Hey hot lips!"
     Some of the British and Australian Rock Stars that frequented the English Pub would order plate after plate of these delicious wings.  They couldn't get enough of that funky hot sticky stuff!  Hot lips!

     Papaya Chutney Recipe:

     This recipe makes a couple cups of chutney!

     Boil 2 1/2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat.

     Add 1 cup of cider vinegar.

     Add about 1 cup of sugar.

     Taste the liquid.  The mixture should taste like a balanced sweet and sour flavor.

     Reduce the liquid over high heat, till it just starts to become a light syrup.

     Reduce the temperature to medium/medium high heat.

     Add 1 chopped peeled small apple.  (The pectin from the apple with help to create the required jelly texture in the chutney.)

     Add 1 tablespoon of minced dried fruit.  (Dried cherries, prunes, seeded tamarind paste, white raisons or dark raisons are best for making chutney.  The dried fruit adds extra depth and flavor.  This isn't a dark fruit chutney, so so don't add too much dried fruit.  I used a few dried cherries to make this batch of chutney.)    

     Add 2 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger.

     Add a squeeze of lemon juice.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of thin strips of fresh lemon zest.

     Add 1 small handful of finely chopped onion.

     Add 2 finely chopped green onions.  (Only use the white sections of the green onions.)

     Add 4 minced cloves of garlic.

     Add 2 tablespoons of finely chopped green bell pepper.

     Add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped red bell pepper.

     Add 1 finely minced Scotch Bonnet chili pepper.  (Green habanero chile pepper is a good substitute.)

     Add 2 cups of small diced peeled and seeded papaya fruit.

     Add sea salt and white pepper.

     Add 1/2 teaspoon of allspice.

     Add just a pinch of turmeric.

     Add 1 pinch of garam masala curry powder.

     Bring the ingredients to a gentle boil.

     Reduce the temperature to medium low heat.

     Simmer the chutney, till it reduces and thickens to a rich fruit preserve consistency.

     Place the hot chutney into an uncovered storage container.

     Cool the chutney in a refrigerator.

     When the chutney becomes cold, cover the container.

     Allow the chutney to sit undisturbed in the refrigerator for two weeks.

     It takes two weeks for the flavors to fully meld in a chutney.

   
     Chicken Wings Preparation:
     Cut the wing tips off of 5 or 6 chicken wings.
     Discard the wing tips.
     Cut through the wing joint to separate the drumettes from the wings.

     Detroit Blackened Red Wings Preparation:

     Melt 2 ounces of unsalted butter in a saute pan over low heat.

     Add 4 ounces of cayenne pepper sauce.

     Add 1 ounce of honey.

     Remove the pan from the heat.

     Toss the raw chicken wings in the Detroit Black and Red wing basting mixture.

     Place the basted wings on a baking pan.

     Bake the wings in a 200 degree oven, till they are fully cooked and very tender.  (Do not brown the wings while baking!) 

     Place the wings on a wire roasting rack to remove any excess liquid and grease.

     Hot Lips Wing Sauce Recipe:
     Heat a small sauce pot over medium low heat.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter.
     Add 1 minced orange habanero pepper.
     Saute the pepper, till it becomes tender.
     Add 4 ounces of the papaya chutney.
     Add 1 ounce of chipotle pepper sauce.
     Add 3 ounces of cayenne pepper sauce.
     Add 1 ounce of Korean red serrano pepper sauce.
     Add 4 drops of worcestershire sauce.
     Add 2 ounces of honey.
     Add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
     Add 1/2 cup of water.
     Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a glaze consistency that will stick to the wings.
     Remove the sauce from the heat.
     Place the sauce in a mixing bowl and set it aside.

     Hot Lips Wings:
     Heat 5" of vegetable frying oil in a high sided pot to 360 degrees.
     Place the par baked basted chicken wings in the 360 degree oil.
     Fry the wings for about 1 minute.  The wings should have black caramelized highlights with a dark red color after frying.
     Use a fryer net to set  the wings on a wire roasting rack to drain off the excess grease.
     Place the wings in the pan with the Hot Lips Sauce and toss them with the sauce.
     Place the wings on a plate with a small ramekin filled with the extra Hot Lips Sauce.
     Garnish the sauce with a parsley leaf.
  
     Most buffalo wings are fried plain in oil with no basting or par baking.  That method of frying plain chicken wings is not as well suited for this recipe.  The wings look dark black and red with the tropical hot pepper papaya chutney glaze highlights.  The Hot Lips Sauce should be a dark rusty orange color when it is made correctly.
     These wings are some of the best gourmet hot wings that there is.  Just try one, lick your lips and someone will say, "Hey!  Hot Lips!"  ...  Shawna