Courtesy of Frankie G's
Trashed wings at Billy G's in Kirkwood
Were trashed chicken wings invented in St. Louis? —Allison B., University City
Just when we thought that we knew all of the food items invented here—gooey butter cake, toasted ravioli, the St. Paul sandwich, and so on—we’re asked this question. While familiar with the item, we had never questioned its provenance.
Featured on many bar and grill menus in town, trashed wings are simply chicken wings that are fried once, tossed in some sort of sauce (Buffalo or otherwise), and then fried again to fully cook the wing and caramelize the sauce. The result: a chicken wing that's darker in color and far crispier than its traditionally fried and sauce-tossed cousin.
We were not the first to do a deep dive into the deep fryer. Noted food critic Robert Sietsema did some investigating after trashed wings appeared during a mid-pandemic pop-up at a place called Mel’s Burger Bar in New York City. In early 2021, reporting for Eater New York, Sietsema wrote that the wings debuted just before the Super Bowl, with the bar proclaiming on its Instagram account that it was “bringing St. Louis wings to NYC.”
The critic tracked them down, sampled them, and opined them as “effectively no-greasy-mess wings, which is maybe how they should have been marketed.” He researched some of the St. Louis establishments that serve them to see which might lay claim to the offshoot, concluding, “Whatever the origin of trashed wings, the article in "I Love The Upper West Side," from which I got the tip, furnishes no clue, other than saying the wings were developed by a laid-off cook from Mel’s who’d learned the recipe while working in St. Louis.”
So we investigated. Our findings indicate that trashed wings were indeed most likely invented here in St. Louis.
Billy Gianino, Jr. of Billy G's said, "My father [Bill Gianino, Sr.] starting doing trashed wings 30 years ago at one of his restaurants, Frankie G‘s Grill and Bar in Oakville. He named them trashed wings because of the extra 'trashing' the fryer oil took in their preparation. They’re still the No. 1 seller there and have been adopted by all of the Gianino family restaurants since." Then came a semi-definitive statement: "Nobody was calling them trashed wings—at least in this town—before Frankie G's in Oakville did."
Chuck Nash, general manager of Fenton Bar & Grill, a 30-plus year old establishment that calls itself “Home of the Best Trashed Wing,” semi-corroborated Gianino’s story by saying that they “started out as dirty wings, which transformed into trashed due to the addition of a dark-colored signature sauce and frying again.” He added that “they’re our No. 1 seller, and certainly our bar was right on the forefront of that invention. The first time people order them, they think, OMG, these guys are serving burnt wings, until they taste them. The secret is using a clean, hot oil and a jumbo-size wing, or the process won’t work as well. Now, I do know we were the first place to do a trashed chicken thigh, and we also do a trashed chicken sandwich.”
Tracy Stamper, marketing manager and spokesperson for Syberg’s, which sells trashed wings six different ways, replied, “We love our trashed wings! Literally the best of the extra crispy wings! We've had them listed on our menus well before 2012, so they've been a tradition of ours for some time!”
Andy Roesch, executive chef at Felix's Pizza Pub says, "I remember getting them at Caruso’s years ago. We have been serving them at Felix's for 19 years. We par fry ours, drench them in Franks Red Hot sauce, let them cool, fry them again, hit them with more sauce, and top with a jalapeño ranch drizzle. Done right, the sugar in the sauce crystalizes the second time in the fryer, leaving a juicy wing with a crisp savory taste."
Tom Schmidt, Salt + Smoke (which offers two versions, “sweet trashed” and “Buffalo trashed,” as well as trashed ribs) noted, “Trashed wings were definitely invented in St. Louis. All of the best, iconic, uniquely American foods were invented here because STL gets it. We are happy to break with tradition in pursuit of wonderful and exciting new flavors and textures. [Salt+Smoke executive chef/co-owner Haley Riley] and I had been, just like with many of our menu items, eating trashed wings as kind of a secret menu snack just for us before we got smart enough to think, I bet other people would like to eat this, too, and we added them to the menu three years ago. Hot dog buns, waffle cones, T-ravs, pork steaks, Provel, St. Louis cut ribs, Bud Light Lime, trashed wings… There's nothing this town can't make delicious.”
After skyrocketing in price (to the point where some establishments temporarily took them off the menu rather than attempt to sell an order for $25), the wholesale cost of chicken wings is now back to pre-pandemic levels. So go ahead…get trashed.
Coincidental side note: The 12th annual UCP Heartland Wing Ding competition is being held on Tuesday, August 30, at The Factory in Chesterfield. Attendees can sample 30 wings from 11 restaurants and vote on their favorite. Details here.
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