Another beautiful lazy day at Complejo Rural Los Cortijos de Noalejo — and the perfect setting for sticky glazed chicken wings. Summer is in full flow up here at 1,000 metres — proper heat, deep blue sky, and a stillness that makes you want to do absolutely nothing at speed. Issy has found her patch of shade and has no intention of moving. I write this with the aid of my new Shark Flexbreeze Hydro Go, a fan with a misting option I haven't quite worked up the courage to use yet. I spotted it on Amazon considerably cheaper than everywhere else and purchased it before somebody realised they had made a pricing error. No regrets.
It was a Saturday, I had excellent 5G, and I spent a good part of the day updating the website. Which is, I'll admit, a particular kind of holiday.
The alitas came later. Chicken wings are one of those things the van kitchen handles surprisingly well — small pieces, quick to cook, and deeply rewarding if you get the technique right. And the technique here is the whole point.
Most people fry wings straight. The problem is that wings have a lot of collagen and fat close to the bone, and high heat alone doesn't give it time to render properly. You end up with skin that looks done but flesh that's slightly chewy underneath.
The fix is simple: simmer first, glaze second. A 15–20 minute simmer in water and beer cooks the wings through completely, starts rendering the fat, and leaves the meat genuinely tender. Then you dry them off, hit them with smoked pimentón, get some colour in the pan, and finish with the glaze – tomato purée, Mango Ember hot sauce, soy, Lea & Perrins, honey, and another glug of Cruzcampo. The sauce reduces until it's sticky and clings to every surface. That's what you want. That's what you're after.
Two stages, one pan, one burner. Proper sticky glazed chicken wings. This is van kitchen cooking at its most satisfying — and these sticky glazed chicken wings will be back.
The Sticky Glazed Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 500g chicken wings, partitioned at the joint
- Water to cover
- Olive oil
- 2 good glugs of Cruzcampo (or any lager) — one for the simmer, one for the glaze
- 1 tsp smoked pimentón
- Sea salt and black pepper
For the glaze
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1–2 tsp Mango Ember fermented hot sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Lea & Perrins
- 1 tsp honey
This recipe is also part of my growing Campervan Cooking Recipes collection — real van life meals cooked on a two-ring hob, no proper kitchen required.
My Mango Ember fermented hot sauce — fruity, fermented, and worth making.
Find more chicken recipes in my Chicken Hub.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef
