Chicken wings are the food America has spent more time perfecting than any other, which means they are also the food on which a national audience has the most refined opinions. Chris Binotto runs Embers & Ash in Southern California, where his smoker is on more often than his oven, and the wings move through three temperature zones before they hit the plate.
Bobby has been doing wings on television for two decades. He brought what he always brings: a hard sear, a glaze, a quick toss. Binotto brought a slow smoke, a dry, then a flash fry to crisp the skin. Same bird, two completely different physics problems. The judges, who have eaten thousands of wings, knew which one was the real one.