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 a whole lot sooner. And therefore would have had more JOY in my life!
Seriously, I had these party cola chicken wings first 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 are a low, slow, oven cook, they’re well on their way to being done, even before your guests arrive, so less for you to worry about. 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 link above) is perfect and works every time. The only thing I’ll add is 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 states, you do need to watch the wings towards the end so they don’t get too dark. And because the marinade is very sticky, I always line my dish well with baking paper to minimise washing up. Because who wants to wash up when there’s a party to attend?!
Other Party Finger Food
A typical finger food menu for me would be these wings, some home-assembled pizzas (because the oven’s already on), some placki with smoked salmon, some frittata which could be made vegetarian depending on the guests. All this can be pre-prepared, so minimum stress. I also love to pre-prepare some roasted beef fillet, which I then serve cold on baguette slices with a mayo-mustard dressing. Dessert can be something as simple as 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”
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