Spicy-Sweet Chicken Wings

Very good.  Everything about this calls for an encore.  Clap your hands.

I ran out of hoisin sauce– what to do in a small town that knows nothing of hoisin sauce on it’s store shelves;

but my husband came home with a surprise for me in a brown paper bag, inside a small tub– hoisin sauce.  He went to our local China King and purchased it from them!– Paid $2 extra, over what they pay to have it in their kitchen to cook the best oriental food that we enjoy ordering on occasion when we don’t want to cook oriental at home.  And their hoisin sauce is much, much better than the “best” that we can buy in the city.  And that sauce is name brand, not as good as what we got our hands on for this meal.

So here’s what I’m going to do, manipulative me– I’m going to be a mouse, go in there and ask the sweet young girl up front what they purchase so I can go online or find someone who will buy it for me to reimburse them for the quantity of hoisin sauce, having it in my possession in my own kitchen– clever?

Once you’ve had the best of anything, how can you return to bland or ordinary of something that you previously thought was so good, when you  find that you can make it and experience it even so much finer, so much more than before?   You just don’t go back to the past of the way it used to be when you find out how good it is now.  And aren’t we meant to enjoy life so fully?–yes, we are.  You do this for your honey, for your little ones, and for you.

For the wings:  Whisk hoisin, orange zest, hot sauce, honey and sesame oil in a large bowl.  Refrigerate 1/2 cup marinade.  Add wings to remaining marinade, toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate, tossing wings occasionally for at least 2 hours (or overnight).  Overnight is best, I think; sets in the flavor supremely; tender when cooked.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Let wings stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet, bake for 20 minutes, rotating sheet and brush with half of reserved marinade halfway through cooking process. 

Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.  Brush with remaining marinade, baking wings until golden brown for 20 more minutes.

To make the dipping sauce:  Heat safflower oil and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat for 30 seconds.  Add orange juice, honey, hoisin, salt and cook for 2 minutes.  Let it cool.

Arrange wings on a platter.  Sprinkle with scallions and serve with the sauce, or drizzle with the dipping sauce alternatively with scallions.