We're winging it here

Grilled hot wings, Corn Maque Choux and Sweet Potato Fries.

Let’s count calories.
Six Buffalo Wild Wings deliver 528, if you don’t lick your fingers.
Ten wings from Zaxby’s contain 732 calories. KFC’s Original Chicken Wings have 140 calories –– and 10 grams of fat –– each. Taco Mac’s Habanero BBQ Wings weigh in at 876 calories and 64 grams of fat per order of 10. Ten Habanero Wings from Bahama Breeze have 920 calories. Outback can top that with 1,160 calories and 75 grams of fat in an order of 10 Kookaburra Wings.
By the time the typical wing joint rolls those fat-skinned little flappers in corn flour and dunks them in the deep fryer, they’re definitely out of the Chicken is a Healthy Food division. The traditional finish is to dump them from the fry basket into a bowl of melted butter and hot sauce. You can gain five pounds watching them wave to you from their little plastic basket. They’ll whisper that the celery sticks are an antidote to your splurge. They won’t mention the blue cheese dressing. We won’t mention the noxious habit of substituting Ranch.
I’m going to stop now. I’m depressing myself. But I’m not going to stop eating wings. The trick is to treat the restaurant offerings as a rare treat, a guilty pleasure if you will. And fix your own at home.

Are they fat-less? Low-calorie? Of course not. They’re wings, and raw and cold in the tray they each have about 63 calories and 4.2 grams of fat. You could cut the skin off and lose a bunch of that, but I’m not sure that would satisfy your wing fix.
But by dispensing with the deep fryer and the butter and the breading, you can keep them this side of criminal, and still serve them proudly. Here’s my method, inspired by trays of wings Publix was blowing out at about half the price it was charging Super Bowl Weekend. I’m guessing they were unsold and frozen for later. Anyway, I grabbed a big tray and got to work.
First I cut the tips off. I could have pulled the little pinfeathers off and tucked them into a freezer bag for adding to stock later but I didn’t. I didn’t feel like messing with any stupid pinfeathers, so I threw the tips away. Martha Stewart would never do that, but then she pays vassals to make her appear perfect. I have blemishes I can’t afford to cover up.
Then I split the wings at the joint, to create the drumsticks and the flats. After washing them, I dropped them into a plastic tub in which I’d dissolved about a half a cup of kosher salt. The formula isn’t precise. I’d guess there was maybe a gallon or so of water in the tub.

Frank’s Hot Sauce, vinegar and olive oil. That’s simple enough.

Then they went in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I pulled them out of the brine, dumped it, and filled the tub with cold water. I washed the wings and dropped them back in the tub to rinse. Then I poured the water off and added the marinade.

The marinade couldn’t be simpler. Add about a half cup of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce to the bowl. Why Frank’s? Because it’s the best. Cooks Illustrated says so, and I agree. It has a great blend of heat and flavor, like the perfect medium between Tabasco and Crystal or some of the other vinegary types. Then add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a cup of vinegar. Stir it all up and let the wings lounge around in the pool while you’re heating up the grill. You could leave them overnight if you want. I didn’t, because I was hungry.

You can crowd them. Really.

I didn’t fool with charcoal. I have a Broilmaster gas grill converted to run on natural gas hooked up permanently on my deck. I use it like an oven. The wings went on the left side, packed tightly so they wouldn’t dry out. The flame went on the right side, turned to medium low so the temperature hovered just below 300 degrees. Then I went off and got busy. Every 20 minutes or so I’d mop the wings with the marinade. I never turned them. At low temperatures, the skin will stick to the grill until they are finished. Futz with them and you’ll make a mess. Just mop them and make yourself busy elsewhere.

Maybe by making Corn Maque Choux. Look it up and you’ll learn that it’s a traditional Louisiana dish, with as many versions as there are Cajuns who eat mudbugs. Sometimes I invest time in it, and it’s almost like a paella. Sometimes I just knock it out, and it’s a perfect side dish for the wings.
Here’s how I do that.
Pour about three cups of frozen corn in a cast iron skillet. I get mine from Costco. Why wouldn’t I? It’s organic, it’s delicious, and if you have room in the freezer to store it, it’s cheap and handy.

Let the cooking begin.

Turn the heat on medium and spray the corn with a little olive oil. I use one of those little Misto bottles to squirt a little on the top. It’ll drain down to the pan. Sprinkle a little kosher salt over the top and get to work on the vegetables.
Chop a stick of celery into thin slices. Do the same with a medium onion. Seed and core four jalapeno peppers and slice them. Drop all this on the corn. Stir it around. Squirt a little more oil if you think it needs it. The corn will thaw and cook as the vegetables wilt. You don’t want this overdone. A little charring is cool, adds flavor because it caramelizes the sugars released as the veggies cook.
That’s it. Tough, huh?
While the corn’s cooking, I throw some sweet potato fries in the oven. Again, check out Costco. Big bag, low price. They aren’t as flavorful as the more expensive ones from Publix, but that’s easily remedied by hitting them with a little French Fry Seasoning from Steak n’ Shake.
You can’t get this kind of insight from Rachel Ray.
Back to the wings. They’re done when the skin is crispy. At low temperature, you don’t have to worry about the meatbeing done. The skinny, bony, tough little morsels don’t like to be rushed. Slow heat melts the meat on the bones, and the skin crisps up to hold everything together.
When the grill grate releases the wings, you can toss them around, hit them with a little more Frank’s, turn up the heat a little if you want them crispier.
The crispier they are, the more of that nasty old fat will burn away. Beats spending time on the treadmill, huh?

Cheaper than a trip to New Orleans, and healthier than eating at Outback.

One cautionary note: Don’t mop them with the marinade. It had raw chicken soaking in it. You don’t want to put that on food that’s about to hit the table. Salmonella is not your friend.