# Hot wings done right



## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

I've been to the City of Buffalo a few times visiting relatives. I've even had the honor of eating them at the Anchor Bar, where they originated. Below is a very good recipe from a guy who used to cook wings for a living in Buffalo. This is how they do it up there. Here's the link, but I provided a slightly edited (better) version below. 

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/meat/chicken/buffalo-wings/buff-wings-1.html

A couple of side notes. The very best tip in this recipe is to throw the wings into the oven for a few minutes after putting the sauce on them. Baking the sauce onto the wings for a short time really make them "resturant" style. 

Make sure you use Frank's Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce. Nothing else will do. 

Also, you really should make your own blue cheese dip. Most BCD recipes are the same, give or take milk, onions, garlic, ect. My favorite is like the one on the Tabasco Sauce web site. Using a quality hand mixer really makes the recipe much simpiler. Once again back to Buffalo, restuants up there generally serve their dip with big chunks of blue cheese. That's the chit, IMHO. 

*Chipotle Buffalo Blue Cheese Dip*:
1/2 cup sour cream 
1/2 cup mayonnaise 
1/2 (4-ounce) package blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/4 cup) 
2 teaspoons TABASCO® brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce 
1 clove garlic, minced 
Salt to taste 

*Hot Wing Recipe:*
Get some Frank's Original Red Hot Sauce, there 
is "no" adequate substitute.

Acquire some margarine. Only margarine works right (correct taste and 
resistance to burning). Neither oil nor butter will substitute. 

Get the wings cut up, and start heating up the frying grease. Some 
revisionist (or health-conscious) types insist on other cooking methods, 
but there is nothing like the real crisp-on-the-outside moist
-and-chewy-on-the-inside texture of fried wings. 

Make up the sauce. Put the Frank's and margarine into a skillet or 
saute pan big enough to comfortably hold one fryer-load of wings. The 
total amount of sauce at once should be about a quarter of an inch in the 
bottom of the pan. 

The proportions are:

Equal parts is the nominal starting point (called "medium" in Buffalo). 
A bit of tingle, but not very spicy. 

Undiluted Frank's doesn't taste as good, but is pretty hot. Three to 
one, Frank's to margarine is about as hot as I like it. 

For the really timid (like kids) just a splash of Frank's in the margarine 
gives a little flavor but no noticeable hot. The idea is to cook up the 
Frank's and margarine to a bit thicker consistency. It should simmer for 
5 minutes or so, then be kept hot. 

You can make up just one batch of sauce for a bunch of wings. You can just 
add more ingredients to the pan as you use up the sauce. When you add more 
ingredients, you can adjust the spiciness. 

I use this to satisfy everybody, I start out with all the margarine I plan 
to use, and put in just a splash of Frank's. That makes a few wings for 
the kids. Then a bunch more Frank's to make the wings medium. Still more 
Frank'sto get it the way I like it. 

Fry the wings. They're cooked when the bubbles slow down significantly. 
This takes seeing it once to know just how much bubbling corresponds to 
"done," but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to get it right. At home, 
I put the "drumettes" in first, because they take a minute or two longer 
to cook. As always with frying, be sure that you don't put in so much 
food that the temperature of the fat drops below 325 or so, and have the 
heat on so it gets back up to 375 ASAP. 

As the wings finish cooking, take them out and drain thoroughly. I 
generally put them in a strainer held over the fat. Don't pile them up 
in a bowl, or the fat will cool and congeal before it runs off! 

Once the wings are drained, put them in the sauce and get the wings covered 
with sauce. The official restaurant way to do this is to toss them in the 
air, but your stove cleaner may not appreciate this.

Use tongs to pick the wings out of the pan and let the sauce drain off. 
Toss the wings on a grill or in a hot oven for a few minutes at this point 
to "bake on" the sauce. 

Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on the side. Yes, the 
BCD *is* for the wings! But make sure it is good BCD, with nice chunks of 
good cheese.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

One question Jeff? What kind of attention doz your bungus need the next morning. Or gut? Have you ever had to have it pumped? The guy that originzated buffler wings needs his balls cut off. In the early 60's, we cooked 19 cent a pound chicken cause we couldn't afford steak. What with the grillin and drinkin, me and ole Coy was always last in line. Iffen it hadn't been fer wings, necks and feets, we woulda starved to death. Couldn't give a wing away back then. Now breast is one of the cheaper cuts. wdbrand.


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Thanks for the recipe Jeff. We are going to have to alter the recipe a bit mainly the margarine part of it. Olive oil and or peanut oil should have a high enough flash point for doing this. Margarine (those made from fully or partially hydrogenated oils) is pretty bad for your body. Not that these fatty wings are much better


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

*hold on cygnus-x1*

you don't cook them in the margarine ... after they come out of the deep fryer you have the hot sauce/margarine in a tupperware bowl and take them out of the fryer and dump them into the tupperware and put the lid on and shake like crazy to coat them ... or at least thats how we do'em here ... Mrs usually microwaves the margarine and adds hot sauce to taste 

I've gave up on the hot wings after having seashore wings ... go ahead and deep fry them and then mix the margarine with old bay instead of hot sauce ....... ummm yummy


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

surfchunker said:


> you don't cook them in the margarine ... after they come out of the deep fryer you have the hot sauce/margarine in a tupperware bowl and take them out of the fryer and dump them into the tupperware and put the lid on and shake like crazy to coat them ... or at least thats how we do'em here ... Mrs usually microwaves the margarine and adds hot sauce to taste
> 
> I've gave up on the hot wings after having seashore wings ... go ahead and deep fry them and then mix the margarine with old bay instead of hot sauce ....... ummm yummy


That variation sounds good as well but we still hold our ground on ingesting margarine no matter how you use it. We have a place here in Salisbury MD that sells kettle fried chicken and they use Old Bay in their seasoning and it is da bomb! We haven't hit a KFC or Popeyes in probably 5 years. 

Why is margarine so much better than real oils and or butters? Hopefully this margarne is the kind without the hydrogenated oils. If using margarine mattered so much in the taste then I am shocked not to see a specific brand or type being mentioned.


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

Oh what the heck! Use Blue Bonnet Margarine, it has less trans-fat than the other brands. Unless you "skin" your wings first, the margarine is the least of your worries. Kinda like going to McDonalds and Super-sizing everything and ordering a diet coke to go with it. All you need to do is eat more fish and all those Omega 3 fatty acids wash all that bad cholesterol right out of your system.


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

sprtsracer said:


> Oh what the heck! Use Blue Bonnet Margarine, it has less trans-fat than the other brands. Unless you "skin" your wings first, the margarine is the least of your worries. Kinda like going to McDonalds and Super-sizing everything and ordering a diet coke to go with it. All you need to do is eat more fish and all those Omega 3 fatty acids wash all that bad cholesterol right out of your system.


I know what you are saying except I come at it form a slightly different angle. Ever leave a tub of margarine (hydrogenated kind) out in the garage or outside? Come back a week later and no bugs or animals have eaten it. I believe that the hydrogenation process produces a substance that your body does not know how to deal with. to me that is worse than the chicken skin. Eat naturally just watch your portions and make sure you eat more veggies and fruits than bad fats.


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## BULLDAWG (Aug 28, 2003)

Only thing missing in the sauce is alittle Red Vinegar . Original Buffalo Wings had three ingredients : Has to be Franks Sauce , Margarine and Red Vinegar adds a little zing to it . We used to grow fresh Sarrano Peppers in the garden and slice these babies up and sautee in the margarine before adding the Franks and Vinegar . Not for the faint hearted though this makes them a bit HOT!!! Gotta have the Blue Cheese ( Make it at least the day before so the flavor gets throughout the whole dip ) and Celery and carrots to tame the tongue ! Life is Good !


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