My Mom's Fried Chicken Wings

Ok, this one has a story. 

To start off with, this is a favourite recipe of my mom's. 
Awhile (40 years) ago, I had a summer job out-of-town working in a campground and my mom and I spent the entire summer together there. My dad would come down after working all week to spend the weekend with us.

Well this one time my mom decided to make a batch of fried chicken wings for when Dad arrived. I don't know how she managed to get this all done in a tent trailer but she did. As a young person one is oblivious to this kind of stuff, but as I look back on it now that was quite a feat!

Before my dad arrived two young guys we knew dropped by. Mom innocently asked them if they'd like some chicken. Well, it's a good thing she set a few pieces away for Dad because those guys devoured the pan of chicken! Mom says she had made 100 pieces!!

We're still friends with one of the guys. And well, the other guy......he still loves this chicken ; )

So here it is....

6 lbs chicken wings, split
3 cups Italian bread crumbs
extra dried thyme (optional)
7 eggs
7 tbsps water
4-5 tbsps ketchup
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp cornstarch
vegetable oil for frying

Once I split the chicken wings I had 72 pieces of chicken. (The wing tips went into a pot to make broth)

Mix the flour and cornstarch together in a bag.
In a separate bag mix bread crumbs and extra thyme if using it. I love having extra thyme! You may want to use half the bread crumbs at a time and replenish as needed. Also, have extra bags on hand as they get a little crusty and may need to be replaced.

I mixed 2 eggs, 1 tbsp water and 1 tbsp of ketchup at a time for dipping, mixing more as I needed.

Working with a couple of pieces of chicken at a time, shake to coat in the flour. Next, dip into the egg mixture and finally drop them into the bag of crumbs and give them another little shake. Place the chicken on a parchment lined tray until all are ready.

Have about 2 inches of oil in your fryer or in a pot. The oil temperature should be 350-375F. Carefully place the wings in the hot oil for 2 minutes without overlapping them. Turn them over for another 2 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to the parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure the oil temperature returns to 350F before adding more wings.

Now, when Mom made these at the trailer she fried them for the whole cooking time which would have been about 15 minutes. I prefer to finish the cooking process in the oven.
So once all the wings have been coated and browned, bake in a 375F oven for 30 minutes.

Want to make them ahead of time? No problem.
Let them cool, then cover the pans with foil and put them in the freezer.

The night before you want them place the pan in the fridge overnight and warm to serve.
Oh, and they are also great cold if you want to take them along on a picnic.