Buffalo wing

This article is about the food. For the roller hockey team, see Buffalo Wings (roller hockey).

A bowl of home-made buffalo wings

Buffalo Wings, Chicken Wings, Hot Wings or Wings are chicken wing sections (called the wing, or "flat" and drummette) that are deep fried and then coated in sauce. Traditional Buffalo style chicken wing sauce is composed of two ingredients: a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and margarine or butter. Buffalo wings may also be prepared with breading and sauce.

Buffalo wings are named after the city of Buffalo, New York where they originated. In the Buffalo, New York area, the local residents do not refer to them as "Buffalo Wings". They are usually referred to as "Wings" or "Chicken Wings". The appellation "Buffalo" is now commonly applied to foods other than wings, such as Chicken fingers, Chicken nuggets, Popcorn Chicken, et cetera, that are seasoned with the Buffalo style sauce or variations of it.

Preparation

Cayenne pepper hot sauce, traditionally Frank's Red Hot Sauce, along with butter or margarine is used in preparing the sauce. Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat/spiciness with the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat, such as mild, medium, or hot.

In most cases, each contains the same base sauce but varies in the amount of butter and hot sauce used. Purists argue that margarine, rather than butter, is required for the right consistency and taste. Wings can also be served dry with the sauce on the side. Buffalo wings are typically served with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and blue cheese and ranch dressings.

History

There are four different legends about how the Buffalo wings came to be.

Bowl of wings from Duff's

• One story is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar, located at 1047 Main Street (between North Street and Best Street) in Buffalo, New York, USA on October 3, 1964, co-owner of the Anchor Bar with his partner Frank. Upon the unannounced, late-night arrival of his son, Dominic (and several of his friends from college), needed a fast and easy snack to present to his hungry guests. It was then that he came up with the idea of deep frying chicken wings (normally thrown away or reserved for stock) and tossing them in Frank's Red Hot hot sauce..

• A second version as told by Dominic Bellisimo (Frank and Teressa's son) to "The New Yorker" reporter Calvin Trillin in 1980 stated: "It was Friday night in the bar and since people were buying a lot of drinks he wanted to do something nice for them at midnight when the mostly Catholic patrons would be able to eat meat again." He stated that it was his mother, Teressa, who came up with the idea of chicken wings.

• The third version of the origin involved a mis-delivery of wings instead backs and necks for making the bar's spaghetti sauce. Faced with this unexpected resource, Frank Bellisimo says he asked Teressa to do something with them.

• The fourth version has nothing to do with the Bellisimo's or the Anchor Bar. Calvin Trillin stated in his 1980 "New Yorker" article that a man named John Young also claimed credit for serving chicken wings in a special "mambo sauce." Chicken wings in mambo sauce became the specialty at his Buffalo restaurant in the mid-sixties. Young had registered the name of his restaurant, John Young's Wings 'n Things, at the county courthouse before leaving Buffalo in 1970.

Buffalo wings are also used in competitive eating events, such as Philadelphia's Wing Bowl and at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.

Variants

While wings served in Buffalo are almost always unbreaded, some national restaurant chains, such as Hooters, do use breaded wings. In the course of proper preparation of breaded wings, the breading soaks up the hot sauce, making the flavoring more even and the wings less messy to eat.

Some wing restaurants offer wings spiced with other styles of sauces or hot spices, such as Cajun or Caribbean-style jerk spices. Another variation are wings "from the pit" or simply "pit". These wings are fried, tossed in barbecue sauce, then placed on the grill for a quick charring. Sometimes the barbecue sauce will have hot sauce mixed with it, but this is not needed. Lemon garlic or Greek wings are a non-spicy variant also offered by some restaurants. Also, these wings are breaded and fried as opposed to being just fried. Some restaurants bread their wings and then toss them in a mixture of seasonings, varying from hot to mild, rather than a sauce.

In addition, restaurants may include on their menus a dish called "Boneless Wings". Boneless wings usually are made of breaded chicken breast meat strips. They are called "Boneless Wings" because they are tossed in wing sauce like Buffalo Wings, although without the sauce they bear more resemblance to chicken strips or tenders.

External links

• National Buffalo Wing Festival
• Anchor Bar official website
• On the Wings of a Buffalo or "Mother Teressa's Wings"