You don’t taste as you go

1. You don’t taste as you go.

Result: The flavors or textures of an otherwise excellent dish are out of balance or unappealing.

For most cooks, tasting is automatic, but when it’s not, the price can be high. Recipes don’t always call for the "right" amount of seasoning, cooking times are estimates, and results vary depending on your ingredients, your stove, altitude…and a million other factors. Your palate is the control factor.

Think that experienced cooks don’t forget this most basic rule? Cooking LightAssociate Food Editor Tim Cebula was sous chef in a notable restaurant when he served up "caramelized" pineapple that somehow refused to brown. Turns out Tim had coated the fruit in salt, not sugar. "That’s why it wouldn’t caramelize."

Sweet & salty chicken wings

Sweet & salty chicken wings

Chicken wings are one of my all-time favourite pub foods. I mean, mmm! So good. And I often go for the stickiest, sweetest ones on the menu. Honey garlic and teriyaki are some of my favourites, and this recipe is a combination of those two sauces.  

These chicken wings are sweet and salty with an Asian flavour theme. There's garlic in there, soy sauce, honey, plus a few other ingredients that make for an awesome wing sauce. Half the sauce is used as a marinade and the other half gets reduced in a saucepan and tossed with the crispy wings when they come out of the oven. That's mega chicken wing goodness!

Here's how I made them:

1 tbsp garlic, minced

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3 lbs (approximately 3 dozen) chicken wings

1/4 cup liquid honey

1 green onion, chopped, for garnish

I stirred together the first five ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Just over half of the sauce was poured over the raw chicken wings in a large baking dish, and the remaining sauce was covered and set aside in the fridge. The marinating wings were covered and set in the fridge for 4 hours (feel free to marinate these overnight for extra yumminess!).

To cook, I set my oven to 375 degrees (F) and transferred the chicken wings to two parchment lined baking sheets, discarding the marinade. They baked for 45 minutes, turning once half-way through the cooking time. Meantime, I poured the reserved sauce into a small saucepan and added the honey. The sauce bubbled over medium-high heat, while stirring constantly, for 15 minutes before being pouring into a large heat-proof bowl. When the crispy and golden wings came out of the oven, I tossed them in the sauce and plated them with a sprinkling of green onion on top.

These were so good! I think I'll be making chicken wings again soon.