A good sport shares recipe for tasty wings

Pssst. Try not to breeze this around because we’re about to cash in on a well-kept secret. Again.

Yes, it’s a recipe from another one of those great guys in The Herald’s sports department. (I don’t think they have the faintest idea how superbly they strut their stuff in the kitchen. So what say we keep them in the dark about this skill – might mean more recipes for us on down the line.)

Most recently, in a column dealing with a lot of ponderables – the this, that and other in a sportswise sense, our own John Sleeper also made mention of his chicken wings. Marinated, he said, in “my own teriyaki sauce.”

Well, that really revved up some of us, including Sultan reader Anita Esser, who put pen to paper, writing, “I read about John Sleeper’s chicken wings teriyaki in one of his articles on Feb. 7. He made them sound so very good. I wonder if he is giving out his recipe? Could you ask him about it? If so, maybe it could be published in your column?”

When we asked Sleeper about this drop-dead delicious recipe of his, he took the time and made a major effort (on the weekend, no less) to share it with us.

What’s more, he not only sends this specialty right along to Forum folk, he mentions, “I’ve experimented with a lot of different ways to make this, but this recipe seems to do the trick.

“The surprise ingredient is the grapefruit juice, which adds some zip to it. Sometimes, I go without the red chili. I also might turn up the garlic, as many as 10 cloves. But, then, I love garlic.”

Winding up, he adds, “This is easy to put together, and my 11-year-old daughter loves to help me with it. Enjoy!”

Teriyaki wings a la Sleeper

Wings:

2dozen chicken wings (about 31/4 pounds), rinsed and patted dry

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted in a skillet over medium heat until lightly browned

Leaves from a half bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped

Teriyaki sauce:

1cup low-sodium soy sauce

1cup grapefruit juice

1/4cup hoisin sauce (available in oriental section of supermarkets)

1/4cup ketchup

3tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4cup brown sugar

1fresh hot red chili, halved

5cloves garlic, minced

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed with side of large knife

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken wings with salt and pepper. Lay the wings in a single layer on a shallow (rimmed) baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until the skin gets crispy and the wings are cooked through.

Meanwhile, for the teriyaki sauce, combine soy sauce, grapefruit juice, hoisin sauce, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, red chili, garlic and ginger in a large saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, reducing until slightly thickened.

Pour sauce into a large bowl. Dump the baked wings into the bowl of sauce and toss to mix with sauce, then transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the sesame seed and cilantro. Serve immediately, while wings and sauce are hot.

The next Forum will appear in Friday’s Time Out section.