Buffalo Wings - Thanks to Hurricane Irene

I know many people’s lives were shaken up by Hurricane Irene.  My heart goes out to all who were affected negatively by the storm.  And I apologize if I'm the reason for it coming here.  These things seem to be following me.  I'm not entirely certain I haven't become part of a Final Destination movie.  As for me, I have to say thank you to Irene.  Without her, we wouldn’t have spontaneously decided to leave the home we just moved into and take a trip to Buffalo.  We wouldn’t have experienced stopping at 4:00 in the morning to sleep for a few hours in the only room available along the way… a jacuzzi room at the Budget Inn.  Heart shaped jacuzzi, colored lights, mirrors… Eewww.  We wouldn’t have eaten “The Original” Buffalo wings.  And most importantly, without Hurricane Irene, we wouldn’t have seen this.

This picture hasn’t been photoshopped or enhanced in any way.  It is a picture Hubby took with his iphone, and it is just one of the many views we got to see.  Niagara Falls is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful, most amazing places on earth.  It’s beauty like this, that the word breathtaking was created for. 

So, moving on to Buffalo wings.  As I mentioned before, we stopped in at the Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo wing.  My reaction… I can do better.  I probably had no business making that statement, since I’ve never made wings before, but I wasn’t terribly impressed.  Now, I don’t know if this is a Utah thing, or what, but we eat our wings with ranch dressing.  Since ranch from a bottle always sucks, I make my own.  It has to be made first so that it has a few hours in the fridge for the flavors to get friendly.  If you like blue cheese, I’m afraid you’re on your own. 

For the ranch:

1 cup mayo
⅓ cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon chives
1 Tablespoon parsley
1 Tablespoon dill
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Measure the mayo into a bowl and pour in the buttermilk. 

Whisk them together until they become a smooth mixture.  Now for the herbs.  If you cut your chives in half and line them up like this, they’re easier to chop. 

The parsley should be chopped finely.

The dill as well.  Make sure you don’t use any large stems of the dill or parsley.

Throw all your herbs into the mayo mixture and sprinkle on the spices. 

Stir it all together, and you have ranch dressing.  Simply cover and refrigerate it for a few hours. 

Next in line is the Buffalo sauce.  You’ll want to make this in advance, as well, so that it has an hour or so to cool. 

Sauce stuff:

1 cup hot sauce
½ cup butter
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar

Measure 1 cup of whatever your favorite hot sauce is.  Hubby likes Cholula, so that’s what I used. 

This is where you can adjust the heat level of your wings.  I’d rate this somewhere around medium hot.  If you want milder wings, reduce the amount of hot sauce or increase the butter.  Also, I only made 12 wings, but this would be plenty of sauce for even 30 or more wings.  Pour your hot sauce into a pan over medium heat, and add the butter and spices. 

Stir it until it just starts to simmer, then turn off the heat, and stir in the sugar. 

After that has had some time to cool, it’s finally time to start on the main attraction.  The wings! 

Here’s what you’ll need:

12 wings (6 whole ones)
2 Tablespoons oil
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons Buffalo sauce
¾ cup flour
Oil Spray

*I was apparently smoking crack when I set up this picture.  There is no butter for this part, but there is oil spray.

If you can get your wings already separated into wingettes and drumettes from your butcher, do it.  It’s a bit of a pain to process them yourself.  I’m not going to go over how to do it here, but this is a great video tutorial.  Once that’s done, throw your wings into a zip top bag along with the oil, spices, and sauce. 

Close the bag most of the way, then blow into it and seal it to make it like a balloon. 

Shake the bag around to get everything coated evenly.  Then pour in the flour, reinflate the bag, and toss again.  The wings should all be nicely coated. 

Line a sheet pan with foil and spray on some oil.  Place the wings on the pan and spray the wings with oil as well. 

Bake them at 400° (oops, did I forget to mention that you need to preheat your oven?) for 30 minutes. 

They don’t look really fabulous at this point, but flip them over and put them back in for another 30 minutes, and good things happen.

Give them about 5 minutes too cool and then place them in a bowl and pour over some sauce. 

I used maybe ⅓ cup or so for 12 wings.  Just use as much as you like.  Stir or toss the wings to give them an even coating of sauce.  Serve with lots of ranch and a few bits of veg. 

So, are they better than ‘the original’? 

Hell yes they are!