Buffalo Wings

Buffalo Wings

Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce is not terribly spicy. This recipe combines it with a more potent hot sauce, such as Tabasco, to bring up the heat.

Serves 6 to 8.

Ingredients

Sauce

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup hot sauce, preferably Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce
• 2 tbsp Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp cider vinegar

Wings

• 1 to 2 qt peanut oil or vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp table salt
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 lb chicken wings, cut up

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing and Vegetables

• 2-1/2 oz blue cheese, crumbled, about 1/2 cup
• 3 tbsp buttermilk
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 4 stalks celery, cut into thin sticks
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices

Directions

1. For the sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in hot sauces, brown sugar, and vinegar until combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. For the wings, preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.
3. Heat 2-1/2 inches of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 360 degrees.
4. While oil heats, mix together cayenne, black pepper, salt, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
5. Dry chicken with paper towels and place pieces in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture over wings and toss with rubber spatula until evenly coated.
6. Fry half of chicken wings until golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.
7. With a slotted spoon, transfer fried chicken wings to the prepared baking sheet. Keep first batch of chicken warm in oven while frying remaining wings.
8. For the creamy blue cheese dressing and vegetables, mash blue cheese and buttermilk in a small bowl with a fork until mixture resembles cottage cheese with small curds.
9. Stir in remaining dressing ingredients, not including carrot and celery sticks. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
10. Pour sauce mixture into a large bowl. Add chicken wings and toss until wings are uniformly coated.
11. Serve immediately with carrot sticks, celery sticks, and blue cheese dressing on the side.

Make Ahead

The fried, unsauced wings can be kept warm in the oven for up to 1-1/2 hours. Toss them with the sauce just before serving.

Blue cheese dressing can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Notes

• Original recipe dated 2/2005.
• Source note says to double the ingredients for the blue cheese dressing.

Source

Scanned recipe: Buffalo Wings, 2/2005.