Friday, February 17, 2012

Buffalo Chicken Wings

Aside from some of the harsh lessons learned in my kitchen these past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of successes.  One of them was the bacon bouquet I made my wife for Valentine's Day.  A bacon bouquet doesn't last as long as a dozen (overpriced) roses, but roses don't taste like bacon.  If they did, I still wouldn't buy them because real bacon is cheaper.  Next Valentine's Day, show your love with bacon.  If the target of your affections rejects your offering, move on.  Anyone who rejects bacon doesn't deserve your love.

I digress.  You're probably thinking, "Did he mislabel the post?  He hasn't said a thing about chicken wings..."  And if you're hoping to find out what a bacon bouquet looks like, sorry.  It didn't last long.  So, buffalo chicken wings...


Incredibly easy.  They take a little time, but it's time well spent. 

Buffalo Chicken Wings

What you'll need:

Baking sheet
Paper towels
Parchment paper
Mixing bowl
Whisk
An oven preheated to 425

Ingredients:

3 lbs. chicken wings
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
2-4 oz. hot sauce (your tastebuds... your call)
3 cloves garlic, crushed into a paste
3 tablespoons of paprika

If you are using whole chicken wings, remove the tips (freeze them until you need to make stock) and separate the wings at the joint between the drummette and the... um, wing?  Using paper towels, pat each piece dry.  As dry as you can get them.  Arrange the wings and drummettes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Try to keep them spread out enough to where they won't be touching each other.  This will help them get crispy and keep them from steaming each other.


Place your loaded baking sheet into your preheated oven.  After about 20 minutes, flip each piece over.  While your wings are cooking, melt the butter in a mixing bowl in a microwave on low heat (or in a saucepan over low heat).  Whisk in the garlic paste and paprika.  In increments, add the hot sauce to the butter.  Taste often to make sure you end up with the heat you desire.

After your wings have been in the oven another 20 minutes or so (40-45 minutes total), they should be a nice golden, crispy brown.  Remove them and move them immediately to your mixing bowl.  Toss them with hot sauce/butter mixture until they are coated well.  Serve them with celery sticks and creamy ranch dressing.  Or, do like I did and just eat them from the bowl.



Ladies and gentlemen, Buffalo Chicken Wings.

No comments:

Post a Comment