Party Cola Chicken Wings

I wish Matt Preston’s recipes were around was I was younger, because then I would have discovered Matt Preston’s Coca-Cola Chicken Wings sooner. And therefore would have had more JOY in my life!

I first ate these party cola chicken wings at a neighbour’s backyard gathering, and have been hooked ever since. You can NOT eat just one. They are the perfect combination of set-and-forget, sweet-savoury, fall-apart finger food.

You will need many napkins!

Because they’re a low, slow, oven cook, they’re well on their way to being done, even before your guests arrive. The only consideration, then, is to invite the type of guests who’ll appreciate them, and also who won’t throw the bones into the bushes!

The recipe (see links) is perfect and works every time. I will add a few points:

• I usually do about 1.5kg of wings. It sounds obvious, but it’s very important to scale up the other ingredients, and not just add extra cola, as the wings will end up a bit meh, instead of having the flavour you need from the onion, garlic and lemon. I err on the side of extra, too.
• Though the prep is simple, it always seems to take me half an hour, by the time I grate the onion, juice the lemons etc.
• It’s a sticky marinade, so I always line my dish well with baking paper to minimise washing up.
• Sometimes I need to turn the oven temperature up in the last hour or so, if the marinade is too liquidy and not congealing around the wings.
• As the recipe (here’s the link again) states, you do need to watch the wings towards the end so they don’t get too dark.

Other Party Finger Food

A typical finger food menu for me (most of which can be prepared in advance):

• these wings
• some home-assembled pizzas (because the oven’s already on)
• placki with smoked salmon
• frittata which could be made vegetarian depending on the guests.
• roasted beef fillet, which I then serve cold on baguette slices with a mayo-mustard dressing
• and for dessert, these tartlets, also easy to make ahead, with a dollop of cream added just before serving.

“That’s the beautiful thing about food, it breaks down the barriers.”

-Matt Preston, “Writes about food/drink for the best newspapers & magazines”