sticky ginger beer chicken wings....a TV food favourite.

I have to admit I am not a TV sports junkie, but Mr G is and  January and February are big months with the mountains of cricket, the Australian Open, the English and European football and the NFL  Super Bowl enjoying many meals at the coffee table.

Though one thing I do know is when your sitting down in front of the TV cheering on your sports heroes it's a knife and fork free zone....finger food only.

There are a number of things I cook  it was hard to know what to choose be it one of my delectable handmade dips; chorizo, red onion and chilli pizza; homemade fennel and pork sausage rolls, Four cheese pastry bites..... but then I realized the one thing I always do is chicken wings.

I love chicken wings they are so culinarily flexible.... you can pan fry them, bbq them, deep fry them, roast them, stir fry them, smoke them,  coat them in a spice rub, marinate them for hours, make them Chinese style, Southwest style, Thai style, Moroccan spiced, take them to Rio, eat them hot, warm or even cold.

One of my favourite chicken wing creations is slow cooking them in a sweet sauce until their sticky and unctuous and one my most requested, and loved, is Sticky Ginger Beer Chicken.

My inspiration for this came from watching Matt Preston cooking his Coca Cola chicken wings on MasterChef Australia last year....though I have to say mine are much nicer (if I do say so myself!)

Tossing them in a mix of ginger beer, garlic, ginger, barbecue sauce, tomato paste, tamari and fresh lime juice and oven braising them for over 3 hours turns boring chicken into something magical, heavenly and ooh soo devilish.   

3 hours you say!!!

I know this may sound a lot but it’s well worth the wait...trust me.

And it’s perfect thing to cook when guests are coming over for while their slowly cooking in the oven I can sort out myself, the house and the rest of the delicious pickings before everyone arrives.

Serve them in abundance on a platter accompanied by a stack of facial wipes...for although this is some MoFo finger linking good chicken... not everyone likes to lick away every little morsel!

sticky ginger beer chicken wings

750mls ginger beer
1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 red onion, finely grated
3 garlic cloves, crushed

1.5kg chicken wings

1 green onion, diagonally thinly sliced (scallions to my US buddies)

1 Preheat oven to 150C/140C fan forced. Line two 12 cup capacity ovenproof dishes with baking paper. 

2 Cut chicken at the joints to form wingettes and drummettes. ( I freeze the wing tips for making chicken stock at a later time or give them to the dog as a treat!) Divide chicken  among the prepared dishes.

3 Combine ginger beer, brown sugar, barbecue sauce, lime juice, tomato paste, tamari, onion, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Pour over chicken wings.

4 Bake for 3 - 3 1/2 hours turning every hour or so or until they are tender, deep red brown and sticky. Serve on a platter. Drizzle over some of the remaining glaze and spinkle with onions.

Happy Devouring!

This was my post for this month's #LetsLunch, is a monthly Twitter based food blogger's virtual lunch club.

If you'd like to join the LetsLunch group, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #LetsLunch or post a comment below!

I’ve posted a link below to everyone else's #LetsLunch posts for this month and will continue to update them as they come in.

Lisa's Sausage Rolls at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Lucy's Crabcakes with Chipotle Mayo and Citrus Salad at A Cook and Her Books

Cheryl's Mongolian Buzz at A Tiger in the Kitchen

Grace's Taiwanese Beef Sliders at HapaMama

Jill's Spiced Pecans at Eating My Words

Karen's Sporting Eats at GeoFooding

Linda's Trio of Salsas from Oxaca at Spicebox Travels

Rashda's FInger Licking Good Curried Ribs at Hot Curries & Cold Beer

Emma's Super Bowl Wings Two Ways at Kitchen Dreamer

Annabelle's Idiazabal and Black Pepper Gougeres at Glass of Fancy