Wing CountryFlat or drum?
One wing, three pieces. Order twenty and you’ve had a wing off ten birds.
The wing, divided
Shoulder end at the left. The rings are where the knife goes.
| drumette | the piece nearest the body, one bone, meat pushed to one end — a little drumstick |
|---|---|
| flat | the middle piece, two thin bones, the most skin per bite; Buffalo calls it a wingette, a butcher calls it a flat |
| tip | the pointed end, skin and cartilage, cut off into the stockpot at most counters |
One bird, one of each
No bird gives two flats. Every drum a shop sells came with a flat attached, which is why all-flats costs extra — and why somebody, somewhere, is eating the drums. The whole fight →
Out back
Where the knife goes on a chicken wing. The wing comes off the bird in three segments and the cook cuts it at both joints: the drumette, shaped like a small drumstick and
Frying a wing with nothing on it — no batter, no flour, no crumb. The skin browns and crisps on its own, the fat under it renders into the oil, and the sauce goes on afte
Coating a wing before it goes in the oil — flour, seasoned flour, batter or crumbs — so the crust rather than the skin carries the crunch and holds the sauce.
Frying in two passes with a rest between them. The first pass cooks the piece through and drives water out of the skin; the rest lets the surface dry and the interior eve
The metal bowl. Cooked wings go into a bowl or pot, sauce goes over them, and the whole thing is shaken to coat the wings completely before serving.
What the wing is cooked in. Deep frying submerges food in hot fat — traditionally lard, today most commonly oil — and the choice of fat sets flavour, how long the vat las
What to call \’em
Upper of the three wing segments, and the meatiest. One bone, meat bunched at one end, skin all round: it eats like a small drumstick, which is where the name comes from.
Middle segment, two bones with a gap between them, and more skin per bite than any other piece of a chicken. Flat because it is — it lies down in the fryer basket and com
Third segment, the pointed end. Skin, cartilage, two slivers of bone, almost no meat.
Cook's name for the wing tip: the pointed third segment, the one that carried the flight feathers. Skin and cartilage over two thin bones.
A supermarket's name for wings already broken down: tips off, joint cut, drumettes and flats loose in one bag or tray. The work a bar's prep cook does, done at the plant.
An order that refuses half the bird. A wing splits one-for-one into a drumette and a flat, so a kitchen filling an all-flats order has to sell the drumettes to somebody e
Our drawing, and a diagram rather than a butcher's chart — the lines mark where styles differ. For the seams, read a poultry cutting guide from a state extension service.