Hilah. I'm very happy to announce that we are coming up on our year

anniversary of the show. To celebrate that fact, we're going to be

bringing on a lot of special guests this month. Today, I have a very

special friend that came all the way from Houston, and she's going to

show us how to make chicken wings for your Superbowl party. May I

introduce Jenny Kelly from 'I Love Flavor'. Say hi.

Jenny: Hi.

Hilah: Hi. What is it about your chicken wings that makes them so

special?

Jenny: They are super-super-spicy.

Hilah: Awesome, I love spicy.

Jenny: Me too.

Hilah: You love spicy.

Jenny: I do.

Hilah: This is terrific, Texas spice. The Longhorns are not in the

Superbowl.

Jenny: Sadly, no.

Hilah: Sorry. The first thing we're going to do is rub the chicken

wings with some spices. You want to tell us about that?

Jenny: Yeah. First, we're going to just take the chicken wings and

then we're going to put a ranch dip in it. I know it sounds weird, but

it tastes amazing.

Hilah: I bet.

Jenny: Then the adobo seasoning, which is just a bunch of garlic and a

bunch of spices put together. Really nice.

Hilah: I got . . . you can buy whole chicken wings, but I got the ones

that are wing portions, so they're already cut up into bite-size

pieces. Let's tear into this baby. Let's see. Oh, my God. I'm really

strong. This is a little over 2 pounds, which is a pretty typical

package size. I'll let you put the seasonings on since your hands

aren't covered in chicken yet. Season them up, Jenny.

Jenny: First we're going to take the adobo seasoning and just . . .

you don't have to season it too much, or you don't want to get too

salty. You pretty much just shake it.

Hilah: Just a nice even coating.

Jenny: You don't have to measure, you just lightly do it. That's the

great thing. That's fun.

Hilah: It'll be good, no matter what.

Jenny: Some awesome goodness. Then the best part, the ranch dip. Who

doesn't love ranch? I love this stuff. I think I had this lying around

the house one day, and I'm like, "This sounds good."

Hilah: You put ranch on them anyway, so totally.

Jenny: You just shake it over. You don't have to, you could just blop

it in. Looks fancy.

Hilah: Chicken's good. Then we just . . .

Jenny: Dig right in.

Hilah: We washed our hands with germs. Just kidding. It smells good.

This is the best-smelling raw chicken I've ever smelled.

Jenny: I know. It's good. I swear it's that ranch.

Hilah: These are coated, as are our fingertips. Jenny, you said you

could let them rest overnight in the fridge if you want, but who has

time for that?

Jenny: I'm too lazy for that, but you can.

Hilah: It's an option. We're just going to let them rest like this

while we heat up some oil for frying, and also wash our paws. We're

going to heat up some oil, now that we have cleaned ourselves. We just

heat it up over high?

Jenny: It's usually high, medium-high, depending on your stovetop.

Hilah: I like to cook on high . . .

Jenny: We can do that.

Hilah: . . . because I like things to be done fast.

Jenny: Let's do it hot.

Hilah: How deep . . . sunnova. How deep oil do we need?

Jenny: I usually do it a couple inches.

Hilah: It's a terrible question.

Jenny: Probably about 2 inches, because you want it to cover the

chicken entirely, that way you don't have to flip it over as much,

takes a lot less time.

Hilah: It cooks up the sides and everything.

Jenny: Usually about 32 ounces, 48 ounces, depending on your pot. It

works.

Hilah: That looks like maybe just under an inch.

Jenny: Probably 2 inches would be good. That's perfect.

Hilah: Awesome. Jenny says perfect. While we're waiting for that to

heat up, why don't you tell us a little about how you got started with

your show and what you're doing with it.

Jenny: One day . . . I love cooking. I always loved cooking. I love to

cook with flavor, make it easy. Lots of my friends don't know how to

cook.

Hilah: Me too.

Jenny: They're like, "You need to get on YouTube. You need to do

something so we can actually learn how to cook." I'm like, "OK."

Pretty much bought a video camera that day, bought all the stuff, and

started playing around on camera.

Hilah: Just learn as you go.

Jenny: Yeah. It's fun.

Hilah: You definitely look like you're having fun in the videos.

Jenny: I have a lot of fun, but it's all food. It's good. It's all

about the food. I want to focus on flavor, easy cooking, and just

having fun.

Hilah: Cooking should be fun.

Jenny: I know.

Hilah: I think people get hung up on it and they're like, "It's so

hard."

Jenny: It shouldn't be a chore.

Hilah: Exactly.

Jenny: I taught myself how to cook. My parents did not cook, ever.

Hilah: How old were you when you started cooking?

Jenny: I think 12-13; I stared at Food Network for hours, day and

night, because I didn't even know how to do anything. I knew how to

make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but whenever it came

to even chicken or anything like macaroni and cheese . . .

Hilah: Nothing? Wow.

Jenny: It was fun.

Hilah: Did you cook dinner for your family?

Jenny: I did. I failed a lot. I screwed stuff up.

Hilah: We all fail sometimes.

Jenny: It's a learning curve. I started to cook dinners for my family,

and now I'm the person who makes Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

Hilah: Awesome.

Jenny: It was a little intimidating at first, but they love it. I'm

the family favorite at the moment because I can cook.

Hilah: Congratulations, you've made it.

Jenny: Kind of. Baby steps. It tastes good, so as long as the food

tastes good. It works. It's fun.

Hilah: Cool. Maybe we should . . . do you want to check the oil?

Jenny: What I do is just as . . . I don't leave the oil for long

periods of time because I'm still learning; I don't know exactly the

timing. The way you watch the oil turn into hot, you either can stick

the wooden spoon in, and then you stick it right in. If it starts to

bubble, that means it's hot enough.

Hilah: Cool, that's a good trick.

Jenny: Definitely.

Hilah: Tell me if this looks good.

Jenny: You can just ease it on in.

Hilah: It's totally happening.

Jenny: That's perfect. That's good.

Hilah: Now we'll just put them all in.

Jenny: Make sure you ease it on in so that you don't burn yourself,

since it is hot oil. I have burned myself so many times.

Hilah: I know.

Jenny: You really won't burn yourself if you just ease it on in. I

just was impatient, and just was like 'chicken.'

Hilah: Throw them all in at once [inaudible: 06:52] explosion.

Jenny: You can squish them all in, they can touch. After a couple of

minutes of cooking, we just shake them up a little bit and make sure

they don't stick to the bottom. They're really good to go.

Hilah: Using a really deep pot like this helps prevent splatters too,

like you were saying. I'm stirring them; is that OK?

Jenny: Yeah, it is.

Hilah: I just started doing it.

Jenny: After I usually put them in the pot, I immediately stir it up

so they don't stick together. After that, you just watch it off and

on. [inaudible: 07:23] We can also put the hot oil pan cover on it

too, if you're worried about splatter. There you go. The cool thing

about that is it keeps your counter clean. I hate to clean, I do.

Hilah: You have to do it.

Jenny: It's just something . . .

Hilah: It's a chore. These will cook . . .

Jenny: About 20-25 minutes, depending. It usually takes me about 25

minutes. Not too long.

Hilah: No. We got to make a sauce, so that's the perfect thing to do .

. .

Jenny: There you go.

Hilah: . . . while this is cooking. I'm going to actually move this to

the back burner so we can use the front.

Jenny: We can do that.

Hilah: Now we're going to put the sauce together while those continue

to fry. What have we got here?

Jenny: We got some Hooter's sauce. Any wing sauce will be good, but

Hooter's is always good. We're just going to spice up some Hooter's

sauce.

Hilah: Sounds easy. We trust Hooter's. They know about wings.

Jenny: They do, and it's good.

Hilah: A cup of this?

Jenny: I do just over a cup, so you don't have to do the whole thing.

It just works out to be just enough.

Hilah: That looks like about a cup.

Jenny: That was perfect.

Hilah: What we going to spice it with?

Jenny: First, we're going to sweeten it up a little bit with some dark

brown sugar.

Hilah: Nice.

Jenny: Make it . . . if you like them extra hot and extra spicy, you

don't have to do the dark brown sugar. That's the sweet element.

Hilah: They're still spicy; it's just there's going to be a nice

balance.

Jenny: It's definitely going to be spicy, but you'll be able to enjoy

your wings a little bit better. You'll have taste buds by the end of

it. I just used 1/2 cup. I do the old-fashioned, just pour it all in.

Hilah: Eyeball it.

Jenny: Eyeball it method. 1/2 cup is always good. Then we get the fun

stuff, just Worcestershire sauce. I just do about a teaspoon of this,

which is just about a couple of blobs just all around. That's a good

bottom layer element to it.

Hilah: A little depth.

Jenny: Who doesn't love garlic? I'm a little obsessed. I just shake it

all in.

Hilah: You like shaking stuff.

Jenny: I do. It's fun. About a teaspoon, or if you're real excited and

you love garlic, and you want more garlicky wings, do a tablespoon.

Hilah: This is totally . . . obviously, you can make this however you

like. This is how you like it.

Jenny: It's how I like it. Some people don't like garlic, so you don't

have to add it. All of these . . .

Hilah: Those people are crazy.

Jenny: I know, they're crazy. Onion powder, which is always good.

Again, the same . . . I usually do the same amount of onion powder as

I do garlic powder, so a teaspoon or tablespoon, and then just a

little bit of pepper. Why not?

Hilah: Pepper's good.

Jenny: It's in the kitchen. I usually do about 5 grates. You can do a

pinch or 2 pinches. This is some old-fashioned measuring right now.

Paprika, I just do a pinch or so. This is just adding a little bit

more spiciness to it.

Hilah: Some color, too.

Jenny: It makes it fun. I know a lot of people don't have these

spices, so they don't really have to add all of them, but it just

kicks up your sauce [inaudible: 10:41].

Hilah: Just add whichever ones you happen to have around.

Jenny: Definitely. That's what I did. I just one day . . . that's how

I created this sauce. I'm like, "I love Hooter's sauce, but I want to

[inaudible: 10:50]." I went to my pantry and grabbed all the spices,

and just like, "Let's have a taste test." It was fun.

Hilah: The best things are invented that way.

Jenny: That's right. It's always good. This is cayenne red pepper,

which is also fun and spicy.

Hilah: Fun equals spicy in this case.

Jenny: This is pretty cool; this is a blend of black and red pepper,

but it's called Hot Shot. I saw the name to be honest with you, and

I'm like, "I have to try this."

Hilah: The marketing worked.

Jenny: It did. This is . . . if you want to make something super-

spicy, it's fun.

Hilah: I just want to try it.

Jenny: Try it. It's good. It has a little kick.

Hilah: It's just peppers. There's no salt in it? Nice.

Jenny: I don't think so.

Hilah: There's not.

Jenny: The cool thing is we're not really adding any salt. I know

there is some salt in some of this stuff, but not much. You just

season it up a little bit. That's really it. All you're going to do is

heat it up and simmer it.

Hilah: Just simmer it. The brown sugar is making it turn a really rich

color. That's pretty. I'm just trying to break up the lumps, and then

we'll turn it down to simmer and let it integrate. We're just going by

the color on these, right?

Jenny: Yeah. What I do is I like them extra-crispy. It's that dark

brown, not really burnt, but really close to being burnt look to it.