Hilton Head woman’s recipe finalist in Wild Wing’s Battle of the Bones contest

Carrie Hirsch does not like what is happening in the powdered sugar community these days.

“I don’t know what’s going on. They’re just the lumpiest sugars I’ve ever seen,” she said Thursday when we chatted about her kitchen adventures, the good and the bad.

Recently, she made a red velvet cake for a friend’s birthday, and she wanted it to be extra special. So she experimented, as she is known to do sans recipes, with a buttercream and cream cheese frosting, and it just wouldn’t come together.

She had not sifted the powdered sugar, and there was no going back now.

The frosting had to be tossed.

“I was pulling my hair out. I just wanted to make it nice for her.”

Hirsch, who moved from New York City to Hilton Head Island 13 years ago, doesn’t like to throw out the food she makes. She would rather tweak and tweak and tweak again until the dish on the table matches the idea in her head.

Recently that dish on the table required 60 pounds of chicken wings to get it just right.

“My husband was sick to death of chicken wings,” she said.

But it paid off.

Hirsch entered three recipes into Wild Wing Cafe’s fourth annual Battle of the Bones contest — Indian Spicy Wings, As American As Apple Pie and Whoooa-sabi.

Her Whoooa-sabi recipe — say it with the three O’s — was chosen as one of eight finalists and is now one of four remaining in the bracket-style battle.

But we have to talk about that As American As Apple Pie wing first.

“With Fourth of July coming, I was thinking that would be the one they chose,” she said.

A chicken wing encrusted in applesauce and cinnamon, baked in the oven as all good pies are and then finished on the grill as all good chicken wings are.

I would dip it in ice cream.

Just kidding.

But I am annoyed at Wild Wing for holding back on us. Had they chosen it, we would have had the chance to say we’ve tried pie chicken.

That’s because customers get to sample the competing wings and vote on the winner. Actually, non-customers can vote too by going online.

The eight wings that made the original cut were: Chipotle Garlic Parmesan, Bangkok Citrus, 7 Pepper Sticky, Maple Curry, Sweet Thai, Asian Spice Bite and Jammin’ Jerk, which Whoooa-sabi beat two weeks ago.

From May 23-29, Whoooa-sabi will go up against Asian Spice Bite. If it wins that matchup, it will compete against the winner of the Chipotle Garlic Parmesan vs. 7 Pepper Sticky battle for a place on the regional chain’s menu and $5,000.

That’s money Hirsch, who works in marketing and is a food writer, hopes to use to promote the cookbook she wrote with her son, George, who is 22 and a recent graduate of the University of Georgia.

“The College Man’s Cookbook” is a guide for those not exactly known for their culinary skills. It contains easy recipes, tips like how to keep the eggs from sticking to the pan and suggestions for impressing parents when they visit.

“Guys are seriously deer in the headlights when it comes to cooking,” Hirsch said. “They tend to eat out. They spend way too much. (By cooking) they can save money and be healthy.”

Besides, learning to cook, she said, will help them get the ladies and also prevent hospital visits.

“‘Hey mom I’ve had this chicken in the fridge for three weeks, can I eat it?’ That’s a resounding no.”

The Wild Wing Cafe contest is the first Hirsch has entered. Since then she has submitted to two other calls for recipes, but she won’t find out until the fall about those.

Her Whoooa-sabi recipe incorporates the flavor profile of wasabi, the spicy green paste served with sushi that I always go overboard on — to the point that my sinuses collapse.

Wild Wing’s menu surprisingly doesn’t have a wing that includes wasabi, so she thought it would be the perfect entry.

“(Entering a contest) wasn’t on my radar. Then, when I saw this on the Wild Wing website, I thought ‘Well, why isn’t it on my radar?’”

Her friends, she said, know her as someone who loves to cook and, moreover, as someone who likes the challenge of creating meals from an eclectic mix of ingredients.

Like on that show “Chopped,” which she loves.

“Oh, I could watch a marathon of ‘Chopped.’ Every day in my house is ‘Chopped.’” she said. “What do we have? Oh. Liver, guacamole and frozen peas?”

No.

No.

Surely not.

“Yeah, I could do it. I swear. I could do it.”

When she found out she was a finalist in Battle of the Bones, Hirsch went from excited to worried.

“At first I was a little panicky. Like ‘Oh wow, I made it. I’ve got to promote this,’” she said. “I was feeling some pressure.”

Since then she’s gotten the hang of begging her friends to vote for her.

“It’s been such, I tell you what, this is a funny thing, you really know who your friends are. There’s a lot of online voting going on. … I’ve been really annoying with my posts (on Facebook).”

When her Whoooa-sabi wing first hit Wild Wing diners two weeks ago, Hirsch, her husband and her friends took up a big section at the Wild Wing on Hilton Head.

“My friends said, ‘Oh absolutely, Carrie, you’re the one.’ Of course, they're biased.”

Nevertheless, she’ll take those votes.

“I really want to win this.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Hilton Head woman’s recipe finalist in Wild Wing’s Battle of the Bones contest."