Posted by tallman at 3:12pm Oct 18 '07I love buffalo wings. They're awesome. Surprisingly, there are a lot of variations on the basic recipe, so I figured I'd share mine. Like any other recipe I use, everything is a little fuzzy - I tend to make them a little differently almost every time. During football season, I make them almost every week. Good stuff.
I'll start with my base recipe, then talk about the many variations. My recipe below is for 8 wings (4 drums and 4 whatever you call those other parts, or 4 full wings) Obviously, you can adjust the recipe to make more or less. Despite the number of steps and amount of writing below, the recipe is remarkably easy.
Ingredients:
4 full wings
1/3-1/2 cup Hot Pepper sauce (I typically use Frank's RedHot, but any vinegar-based cayenne pepper sauce will do)
1-3 tbsp butter
Directions:
1. Separate wing parts. I typically separate only the little drum portion (looks like a mini chicken leg) from the rest, but some people don't like the other end of the wing as there's almost no meat on them (I like them because they get all crispy).
2. Place in baking pan and bake at 425 for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how crispy you like your wings, you can go even longer or increase the temperature). Note, lots of juices & grease will leak out, so make sure your pan has raised edges.
3. While wings are baking (about 10 minutes before they're done), pour hot pepper sauce into a small pot/saucepan. Use low heat to warm up the sauce (important: do NOT bring sauce to a boil). When sauce is warm, add butter and stir until butter is melted (stirring while the butter is melting is important, otherwise, the butter clumps up). The amount of butter depends on how hot you want your sauce. The more butter, the milder the sauce will be. I typically use about 1 tbsp. It's important for wings to be hot, but I'm more concerned about taste, and you need at least some butter for taste. Keep on low heat and stir occasionally until wings are ready.
4. After time is up, take the wings out of the oven, and dunk them in the pot/saucepan, coating each wing with sauce.
5. Serve with blue cheese dressing on the side (& celery if you like). Carbonated drinks (soda, beer) tend to mix well with wings (for me, at least:P)
Variations:
* Buffalo wing purists will note that my recipe differs from the traditional recipe in 2 major ways - Wing should be deep fried, and margarine is typically favored over butter. However, my way is healthier (they still aren't good for you, but mine are better for you than the ones you'll get in a bar, and they'll still taste good!) and probably easier to make (though baking takes longer than frying).
* Some people bread wings and then fry them. That works too, but again, I prefer just baking them. It's easier, not as messy, and better for you (though, again, wings still aren't good for you:P)
* You can add all sorts of things to the sauce to give it something a little extra. Here are some things I've tried:
** Extra pepper (ground red and white pepper work well)
** Garlic Powder (Frank's Red Hot sauce already has this, but you can still add some if you like)
** Dried Basil and/or Oregano
** Small amounts of soy sauce (be careful, soy sauce can be overpowering, but it does give an interesting twist)
** White wine
** Small amounts of A1 steak sauce (again, be careful, A1 can be overpowering)
* I prefer my wings extra crispy, so I cook them longer than necessary and I only dunk them in the sauce to coat them. If you like your wings a little soggier, you can increase the amount of sauce you make, and then keep the wings in the sauce for a little while.
* I've never actually tried making the hot sauce from scratch. All sorts of varieties are available in my main grocery stores, so it just seems like a waste, but in theory, it's just a sauce comprised of vinegar and lots of cayenne pepper powder.
* There seem to be a lot of extra powerful hot sauces out on the market. My brother is a big fan of one called "Scorned Woman" hot sauce. If you add some of that to the sauce, it can give it a little extra kick. There are lots of sauces out there, and they can all help provide some good, complex flavors.
* Buffalo sauce can go with lots of other things. It goes really well with any sort of breaded chicken stuff (like chicken fingers or breasts). A friend of mine makes really good buffalo blue burgers (just mix in some buffalo sauce and blue cheese chunks with the ground beef, good stuff).
There you have it. Anyone else a Buffalo Wing connoisseur? Anything you think I should try?
~[private]
I'll start with my base recipe, then talk about the many variations. My recipe below is for 8 wings (4 drums and 4 whatever you call those other parts, or 4 full wings) Obviously, you can adjust the recipe to make more or less. Despite the number of steps and amount of writing below, the recipe is remarkably easy.
Ingredients:
4 full wings
1/3-1/2 cup Hot Pepper sauce (I typically use Frank's RedHot, but any vinegar-based cayenne pepper sauce will do)
1-3 tbsp butter
Directions:
1. Separate wing parts. I typically separate only the little drum portion (looks like a mini chicken leg) from the rest, but some people don't like the other end of the wing as there's almost no meat on them (I like them because they get all crispy).
2. Place in baking pan and bake at 425 for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how crispy you like your wings, you can go even longer or increase the temperature). Note, lots of juices & grease will leak out, so make sure your pan has raised edges.
3. While wings are baking (about 10 minutes before they're done), pour hot pepper sauce into a small pot/saucepan. Use low heat to warm up the sauce (important: do NOT bring sauce to a boil). When sauce is warm, add butter and stir until butter is melted (stirring while the butter is melting is important, otherwise, the butter clumps up). The amount of butter depends on how hot you want your sauce. The more butter, the milder the sauce will be. I typically use about 1 tbsp. It's important for wings to be hot, but I'm more concerned about taste, and you need at least some butter for taste. Keep on low heat and stir occasionally until wings are ready.
4. After time is up, take the wings out of the oven, and dunk them in the pot/saucepan, coating each wing with sauce.
5. Serve with blue cheese dressing on the side (& celery if you like). Carbonated drinks (soda, beer) tend to mix well with wings (for me, at least:P)
Variations:
* Buffalo wing purists will note that my recipe differs from the traditional recipe in 2 major ways - Wing should be deep fried, and margarine is typically favored over butter. However, my way is healthier (they still aren't good for you, but mine are better for you than the ones you'll get in a bar, and they'll still taste good!) and probably easier to make (though baking takes longer than frying).
* Some people bread wings and then fry them. That works too, but again, I prefer just baking them. It's easier, not as messy, and better for you (though, again, wings still aren't good for you:P)
* You can add all sorts of things to the sauce to give it something a little extra. Here are some things I've tried:
** Extra pepper (ground red and white pepper work well)
** Garlic Powder (Frank's Red Hot sauce already has this, but you can still add some if you like)
** Dried Basil and/or Oregano
** Small amounts of soy sauce (be careful, soy sauce can be overpowering, but it does give an interesting twist)
** White wine
** Small amounts of A1 steak sauce (again, be careful, A1 can be overpowering)
* I prefer my wings extra crispy, so I cook them longer than necessary and I only dunk them in the sauce to coat them. If you like your wings a little soggier, you can increase the amount of sauce you make, and then keep the wings in the sauce for a little while.
* I've never actually tried making the hot sauce from scratch. All sorts of varieties are available in my main grocery stores, so it just seems like a waste, but in theory, it's just a sauce comprised of vinegar and lots of cayenne pepper powder.
* There seem to be a lot of extra powerful hot sauces out on the market. My brother is a big fan of one called "Scorned Woman" hot sauce. If you add some of that to the sauce, it can give it a little extra kick. There are lots of sauces out there, and they can all help provide some good, complex flavors.
* Buffalo sauce can go with lots of other things. It goes really well with any sort of breaded chicken stuff (like chicken fingers or breasts). A friend of mine makes really good buffalo blue burgers (just mix in some buffalo sauce and blue cheese chunks with the ground beef, good stuff).
There you have it. Anyone else a Buffalo Wing connoisseur? Anything you think I should try?
~[private]