Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack inside. Carefully dry chicken wings with paper towels. In a large bowl, combine wings with baking powder and salt and toss until thoroughly and evenly coated. Place on rack, leaving a slight space between each wing. Repeat with remaining 2 batches of wings.

Place baking sheet with wings in refrigerator and allow to rest, uncovered, at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 450°F (230°C). Add chicken wings and cook for 20 minutes. Flip wings and continue to cook until crisp and golden brown, 15 to 30 minutes longer, flipping a few more times towards the end.

Meanwhile, combine butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking until combined. Transfer wings to a large bowl, add sauce, and toss to thoroughly coat. Serve wings immediately with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks, conspicuously shunning anyone who says that real Buffalo wings must be fried.

Raising the pH does indeed improve browning, and it also creates an environment that weakens the peptide bonds naturally present in proteins. In theory, this means the proteins can break down more easily into shorter pieces, creating a texture that is less leathery or papery and more crispy. Is it true in reality? Well, my teeth tell me “yes,” but my lack of an electron microscope tells me “maybe.”

One final advantage from the baking powder: During its overnight rest on the chicken, it soaks up some of the protein-laden chicken juices from within. As it heats, it forms carbon dioxide gas in the same way that it would in a cookie dough or cake batter, inflating these juices into bubbles, which are then naturally hardened by the heat of the oven. And, as we all know, extra bubbles mean extra surface area, which means extra crunch!
1 to 4 pounds (450g to 1.7kg) chicken wings, cut into drumettes and flats
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder per pound of chicken wings
1 teaspoon (5g) kosher salt per pound of chicken wings
2 tablespoons (1 ounce; 25g) unsalted butter per pound of chicken wings
2 tablespoons (1 ounce; 30ml) Frank’s RedHot Sauce per pound of chicken wings
Blue cheese dressing, for serving
Celery sticks, for serving

I set three new batches of wings on a rack set in a baking sheet and placed them, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight. One was tossed with baking soda (a smaller amount than what had previously given me a bitter aftertaste), one was tossed with baking powder, and one was plain.

The next day, I removed the desiccated wings and baked them in a 425°F (218°C) oven, on the same rack that I’d dried them on. The results were even better than I’d expected:
Check out the hole structure on that, baby!

Although the baking soda–laden wings still had an off flavor, both the baking powder– and baking soda-treated wings showed markedly more bubbling and blistering than their untreated counterpart—just as much as a regular fried wing, in fact!

Could such a dramatic difference be attributed merely to improved browning because of the Maillard reaction? That’s part of the answer, but some research revealed that, most likely, it’s a combination of factors.

While Alton’s methods are always interesting, and often spot-on, my guess is that none of the supporters of the steam-and-bake technique actually performed a side-by-side test. When push came to shove, the three batches were virtually indistinguishable from each other.

Give The Wings a Rest
It was time to call in the big guns. Sure, it’d be nice if I could pick up a package of wings on game day and have them ready for dipping in blue cheese a few hours later. But wishing it ain’t gonna make it happen. As I discovered yet again, good results require careful thought, a bit of work, and plenty of time.

I decided to use a method that works wonders on whole birds and red-meat roasts alike: air-drying. Hopefully allowing the wings to dry on a rack overnight would dehydrate them enough that rapid browning could happen in the oven.

Special equipment
Rimmed baking sheet, wire cooling rack