Homemade Hooters Wings

[Bigdaddydvo]

Being a longtime fan of the original "Hot" breaded Hooters wings, I sought to make a homemade exact copy.

Purchased the wings, the "Hooters breading" flour, and Hooters Wing Sauce flavored HOT. I have a deep fryer, so I should be ready to go.

I bread the wings in the flour and refrigerate for an hour as directed, deep fry, toss in the Hot sauce, and indulge. They're good and all, but somehow they taste different. I can't pin it down. Is it the sauce? This past weekend while taking my family to Hooters, order a plate of original hot wings, and get a dish of sauce on the side so I can confirm that the bottled stuff is the same as the restaurant. It absolutely is, so my remaining variables are

a)the breading

b)the wings themselves

c)the deep fryer

I use vegetable oil in the deep fryer, so I don't think it's "C." I noticed the wings I used are pre-separated and frozen, and are a bit smaller than the restaurant. This means "B" could be a possibility. Lastly, there's the breading. Should I be doing anything else aside from tossing the wings in the flour mix and letting it sit in the fridge for an hour? I noticed the restaurant wings are crunchier than the ones I've made. Any way to adjust the breading to get this result? I suspect the wings get to the restaurant frozen and prebreaded, so I may be working outside of the capacity of a factory that breads these.

So OOT, how can I get these wings to Hooters Restaurant standard. As a bribe I'll throw this in:

[tonypaladino]

I'm not an expert, but I imagine Hooter's deep fryer gets a lot hotter than yours.

[rusty JEDI]

Try melting some butter and mixing the hot sauce with that.

[kipin]

I think you can get your wings crispier if you just leave them in the fryer a bit longer.

I have been making my own wings recently and on the third try I pretty much perfected them to my satisfaction.

Finding good quality chicken wings is now the biggest problem I have. (Most are filled with like 30% water which decreases the size after cooking a lot)

[rusty JEDI]

I like small wings way better.

There is nothing worse than getting those big fat sloppy wings. If im going to a place that i know always has the huge wings i ask for them way overdone.

[kipin]

[ QUOTE ]
There is nothing worse than getting those big fat sloppy wings. If im going to a place that i know always has the huge wings i ask for them way overdone.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heretic.

[BruceZ]

I tried the frozen microwaveable Hooter's wings, and I was quite impressed. They weren't the same as the ones you get "live", but they were very good for frozen wings and quite enjoyable.

[Bigdaddydvo]

[ QUOTE ]
I tried the frozen microwaveable Hooter's wings, and I was quite impressed. They weren't the same as the ones you get "live", but they were very good for frozen wings and quite enjoyable.

[/ QUOTE ]

This could be a viable option...can you deep fry them?

[rusty JEDI]

OT....sorry

It always amazes me that when you finally calculate the price of the wings from the place you get them, + the sauce, + deepfryer oil that its often cheaper to go and buy them from the restaurant. Wing nights are guaranteed to be cheaper than what you could do yourself at home.

[B Dids]

Nobody believes me when I say that the reason I like Hooters wings is "'cause they're big". Which is true in a way totally absent of any other meaning.

I have left some embrassingly large tips there simply because somebody threw a boob into my shoulder though. I'm such a sucker for cleavage.