A little while back on the recipes thread Gabrielle asked for breakfast ideas that provided protein and worked around some allergies:
Breakfast has become a source of stress for me. Here is why. I have celiac disease so gluten and actually all grains are out for me (except a little white rice which is why this program appeals to me so much). I really need quality protein in the morning to feel good all day but since my diagnosis I over ate eggs and am now allergic to them as well. I have tried bacon and sausage but no matter how organic they are they just don’t sit well in my system. And, whey protein is out for me since I am also allergic to dairy (so just in case you were keeping score I am allergic to gluten, grains, eggs, and dairy).
So, does anyone know of any recipe that might work for me in the mornings?
I suggested chicken wings. These are easy to make in large batches, last a long time, can be eaten cold or microwaves, and make a great party or lunch box food.
It seems only fair to provide our recipe.
Preparing the Chicken
Chicken wings can be purchased either pre-cut or whole. We used to buy them whole, but cutting whole wings into drumettes, wingettes, and tips with kitchen shears tripled the amount of work, so now we buy pre-cut drumettes and wingettes.
After they’re cut, the next step is to rinse the drumettes and wingettes and strain the water, letting them drip-dry for 5 to 10 minutes until they are just moist enough to hold a rice flour coatingpat the wings dry with a paper towel and then let them air dry for ~20 minutes.
The next step is to coat them with a layer of starch, plus salt and pepper also if you haven’t already done that. We do this by putting ¼ cup (4 tablespoons, 60 ml) rice flour in a ZipLoc bag with 25 wing pieces and salt and pepper to taste. Shake the bag until the wing pieces are evenly coated.
Rice flour works better than tapioca starch or potato starch, as it is the least likely to stick to the cooking pan.
Spread the coated wing pieces on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet:
If you used potato starch or tapioca starch, the aluminum foil will need to be greased with butter to prevent sticking.
Put the cookie sheet in an oven pre-heated to 400ºF (200ºC) for 20-25 minutes. At this point they should look like this:
Flip each wing piece over and return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes. At that point the chicken will be fully cooked:
UPDATE (February 2013): We’ve continued our experiments with chicken wing preparation and have come up with a few refinements:
- Using gluten-free flour composed of a mix of rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch works better than any single flour or starch.
- Because of concerns over aluminum contamination, we’ve experimented with other cooking surfaces. We’ve had excellent results with Pyrex baking dishes:
- In cases when the chicken wings seem not as fresh, we’ve taken the precaution of boiling the wings in water flavored with ginger-root and salt (both antimicrobial):
They can be boiled for 5 minutes and then transferred to a baking dish to resume the above recipe:
Or they can be boiled for 20 minutes and then pan-fried briefly with the sauce to brown them. This cuts the preparation time in half. This batch used a Chinese sauce (garlic, scallion, ginger, and soy sauce):
Dressings
We made several flavors:
- Garlic, parmesan, and mustard.
- Buffalo style.
- Pacific sweet and sour.
For garlic, parmesan and mustard wings, we mixed 2 cloves diced garlic, 3 tbsp butter, and 1 tbsp mustard at very low heat in a wok. Then we added 1 tbsp brown rice syrup, salt and pepper. When the chicken wing pieces were fully cooked, we added them to the wok, mixed everything thoroughly, and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top. They looked like:
For buffalo style, we combined 4 tbsp butter, chili powder and paprika to taste, garlic, salt, pepper, ¼ cup rice vinegar (or another vinegar), and 1 tbsp brown rice syrup. It looks like:
For Pacific sweet and sour sauce, see Pacific Sweet&Sour Salmon, Apr 10, 2011.
Conclusion
Chicken wings can be a bit time-consuming due to the 45 minutes of oven-cooking, but they are really easy. The chicken wings taste great and they make great finger-food and leftovers.
We typically prepare about 75 and eat them for dinner once and then for snacks over the course of the following week.
via this link:
Yikes, my mouth is watering!
Buffalo style chicken wings should never ever ever be coated with a layer of starch. That’s the sign of a bogus wing made by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.
Looks great, will definitely try this week.
Another option for breakfast – puffed rice with cream. Not much protein, but quick & easy.
Thank you so much for posting this! I will be making a batch of these this week.
Thanks, erp!
Hi TMS, perhaps you could link to a recommended recipe for Buffalo style.
Hi Scott, yes, puffed rice is a good breakfast cereal.
Yum, chicken wings are one of my favorite foods! Since I try to avoid industrial oils, eating wings at restaurants is not really an option. Now I make them at home.
After prepping the wings (cutting, rinsing, etc. – I don’t add any breading), I sprinkle on cajun seasoning, or anything that’s a little salty and a little spicy. I turn on the grill and run the tip of a stick of butter over the grates to keep the wings from sticking (olive oil just won’t hold up to the high heat). Once the grill heats up (med-high temp), I put on the wings. I flip them about every 5 minutes until they are done.
After the first flip, I dribble a bit of hot sauce on the crispy side. I wait to add sauce because I want the wings to crisp up first. Adding sauce while cooking also allows it to cook into the wing. Adding sauce afterwards sometimes leaves the wings a bit soggy. I add a little more sauce after every flip until they are cooked through. It takes 20-30 minutes
Mmmmmm, chicken wings! 8)
Paul,
I’ve read somewhere people said not to cook with aluminum pans and foil and instead use parchment paper. Is there any concern there health wise?
Thanks, Ali!
Hi Jay,
Good question, I haven’t looked into that. You certainly don’t want aluminum in your body, but I’m not aware that much leaches from aluminum foil. Nor do I know if parchment paper is totally safe.
Very yummy, but is the fat in chicken not mainly Omega 6?
Hi Nic,
Omega-6 are 11% of calories in chicken wings, 18% of fat calories. We want omega-6 to be at most 3-4% of dietary calories. So you shouldn’t make chicken wings your primary meat, but if red meat and seafood/shellfish are the primary meats, you can have chicken wings once in a while.
The omega-6 content is similar to that in tree nuts, pork, duck, olive oil, and many other foods. You can have these in moderation as long as you eat plenty of low omega-6 foods too.
For breakfast I also like congee (with chicken). Its easy to make a large serving size to last me for a week.
Sorry I should have posted that comment on the original thread where folks made their suggestions for breakfast ideas.
Me too, aller1gic to eggs, dairy and soy, PLUS the antibiotic regular chicken are fed on from day one. I happily buy organic, and guess what, chicken tastes like it used to in the olden days. And instead of milk, try Coconut milk beverage, regular, that’s the one in the red box in the health food section of your grocery store. You will never miss milk again. You could try almond milk too, which is very nutritious too, but out for me because I am hypothyroid and almonds are out period.
Let me point you the way to a delicious hot cereal any observant celiac can eat – Bob’s Mighty Hot and Tasty cereal. Only to die for. You will never be hungry again !
Wow those look good. I make chicken wings often, but I usually get lazy with the sauces. Seeing as how my mouth is watering, I may have to tough it out =)
Looks damn good! Never tried frying wings before. Maybe I can try the recipe in an oven baked version where I can still get the skin to crisp a little…
Those do look good! And they just might be an answer to what’s-for-lunch once in a while.
I’ve wondered about the aluminum foil thing, too. I use it from time to time, but always wonder if it’s a good idea.
Hey Paul great recipe, can’t wait to try it out this weekend.
I can understand Gabrielle’s frustration, breakfast used to stress me out!
Then I figured out an awesome Paleo/SCD breakfast that I love… it’s homemade turkey breakfast sausage sauteed in coconut oil.
The best part?
It’s grain, sugar, starch, dairy, and egg free 🙂
I just had to share it with everybody here (it’s got a cool video and everything):
Check out my famous SCD Breakfast Sausage here.
Hope you’re doing great!
– Jordan
HI Jordan, thanks for sharing that recipe. I will check it out.
All this talk about wings sent us out to lunch today at a local eatery noted for said repast. Alas, though we were primed and ready, but the wings were dry and disappointing and the veggies were of the plastic textured frozen variety.
I love the PHD live style, but it sure has ruined dining out for us.
i’m pretty sure i’ve read somewhere that aluminum foil does indeed leach aluminum. That’s why I use unbleached silicone coated parchment paper. Less chance of food sticking too!
Hi Jordan, thanks, I put a link up on the Recipes thread.
Hi erp – Us too.
Hi remo, I wonder if it needs an acid to leach. The melting point is pretty high, so it shouldn’t leach easily.
Thanks for posting this. I made wings last night for supper, and they were very good. I wouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t put up this recipe. 🙂
I started with 2.25# of whole chicken wings. I snipped them at the joints (took a while, probably 10 minutes?) Tossed the tips into the freezer to make stock later. Rinsed, drained, tossed in 1/4 cup of King Arthur gluten free flour + 3/4 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp paprika. Baked on half sheet pan for 20 minutes at 400°, flipped, then another 15-20 minutes more.
What I’d do differently next time: A little more salt and maybe paprika. Consider a higher temperature, or convection roast. The exterior didn’t get as crusty or GBD (golden brown & delicious) as I had hoped it would.
Hi Ed,
Shou-Ching suggests that after rinsing and draining, pat them dry with a paper towel and let them air dry in the drainer for a while, maybe 20 minutes, before coating them with starch. This prevents the starch coating from getting soggy.
Paul,
I’m slapping my forehead. I’m sure she’s right. A dry steak browns up much better than a wet one (and doesn’t stick to the pan, to boot). Thanks for replying.
I’ve updated the post to make the need for dry wings more clear. Thanks, Ed.
How do you keep them from sticking to the foil? I use rice flour and it still sticks, i use butter to grease the foil and it smokes and burns. I’ve tried making these like three times now :/
Hi Murph,
You probably have too much water/moisture on your wings. If you dry the wings before coating with rice flour, they shouldn’t stick much. You can pat them dry with a paper towel before coating them.
The other thing you can do is use a ceramic or pyrex baking pan.
Hi, apologies but I just wanted to confirm the above is SCD legal? I still learning the dos/dont’s of the diet. Thanks!
Hi Jon,
I’m not an expert on SCD. It is PHD legal!
Greetings all,
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in about chicken feet, which I have recently started eating and find delicious! I am fortunate to be able to get chickens from local farmers and this particular batch refused to eat anything but grass, according to the farmer. They are quite small and very good. The feet are so easy to prepare. I use 10-12 along with bones left over from previously roasted chickens and simmer them gently for several hours. I remove the feet from the broth and snip off the claws and any extra skin or dark spots. Next, I put them in a fry pan with a little coconut oil on very low heat and add some Mirin, rice vinegar, fresh grated ginger and a little tamari and maybe a tiny dash of maple syrup. When the sauce thickens a little, they are ready to eat. I assume all that collagen is very healthful. Of course the broth is nice and gelatinous when chilled and very rich tasting. I have found that adding 1/2 tsp. or so of whole fenugreek seeds, a couple star anise and some orange peel is a wonderful addition for all types of meat broths.
Thank you for sharing Cathryn, sounds terrific!
Hi, can you please clarify something Paul…..
You said that you cook a large amount of these and use them all week. Do you freeze them? I only usually keep cooked meat in the fridge for two to three days max …..I thought any longer and it would be ‘off’. Is it in fact ok to keep it in the fridge for longer? And can you reheat the wings or are they best eaten cold?
Many thanks
Coconut oil, my friends!