I haven’t made my Buffalo wings in nearly two years. I usually make them for an annual cook-out, but I didn’t have one last year due to various circumstances related to time and money. So finally being able to taste my delicious wings again was a real treat. For the benefit of all, here is my "recipe" (its all kind of touchy-feely):
BUFFALO SAUCE INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
- Half of a jar of sliced pepperocini peppers rings
- Half of a jar of roasted red peppers in oil, sliced into thin strips
- 1/2 cup of chopped scallions
- 1 bottle of Frank’s Red Hot sauce
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
Heat the oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the scallions, garlic and the half-jars of peppers to the oil. Cook for about 10 minutes, allowing the peppers, garlic and scallions to pick up some color and start to cook through.
Add the balsamic vinegar and toss with the peppers.
Add an entire bottle of Frank’s Red Hot sauce and the stick of butter. Lower heat to low and allow to simmer until butter melts and sauce is combined.
WINGS
I use a turkey fryer for doing large quantities of wings. You can do about 2 lbs of wings at a time. Most recently, I used peanut oil for frying, and it made for very crispy and flavorful wings. Regardless of what you’re using, heat the oil to 400 degrees, and cook the wings for about 10-12 minutes, until they are cooked through, golden brown and crispy. This is important – though it is possible, it is tough to over cook the wings.
Remove the wings and drain well, then toss with the sauce and serve immediately.
If you let the wings sit in the sauce for a while (in a chafing dish perhaps), they will lose their crispiness, but the sauce will penetrate the meat more. As long as you have thoroughly cooked the wings, they will not get too soggy and fatty.
NOTE: For hotter (spicier) wings, you can do a variety of things, including adding different hotter hot sauces or some red pepper flakes or some cayenne pepper. However, an easy way to add heat is to simply make the sauce the night before you serve the wings. Letting the peppers steep in the sauce overnight releases more of their potent oil and the whole sauce comes out considerably spicier than when fresh. Just reheat the sauce thoroughly and toss the wings as stated before.