Chicken wings used to be the cheapest part of the bird, often used to make stock. Historically, the Chinese were the first to cook chicken wings and in the American South, Afro-Americans were cooking chicken wings before Buffalo Wings became a “thing”.
As the story goes, some leftover wings were fried up as a snack and given to patrons at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. Their popularity grew and so did the array of stories.
If one were to visit the Buffalo/Niagara area, you’ll find practically every bar having them on their menu. The local tourist board even offers a food crawl of curated eateries serving up their take on the chicken wing!
Personally, I first had Buffalo Wings in the mid-80’s at a newly opened Scarborough (east Toronto bar) called Wizards. They would have “wing night” on Tuesdays…10 cents a wing!
By 1990’s the chicken wing became a thing and there is little to stop the love of the chicken wing. Restaurateurs will tell you they have to place their orders in for chicken wings in advance of Superbowl Sunday otherwise they may be left out.
Classic chicken wings are fried, tossed in a hot sauce called “Frank’s” and melted butter. Bars offer different levels of heat for your sauce: mild, medium, hot and suicide. Some bars offer even hotter sauces!
Before we get on with the recipe, it’s important to note that I use a blend of all-purpose flour and fine corn meal. Make sure you use fine corn meal, it has the same consistency as flour. Using a coarser corn meal will not give you good results. If you can’t find fine corn meal, just use 100% all-purpose flour.
Buffalo Wings won’t win any health and lifestyle awards but they hit all marks for a delicious bar food. Fried with no apologies.
Buffalo Chicken Wings
(serves 4)
32 chicken wings (mix of drumette and wingette/flat)
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup fine corn meal
vegetable oil for frying
Buffalo Wing Sauce
3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups hot sauce (Frank’s hot sauce is the orginal)
- Pat-dry your wings and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne. Toss well and place in the fridge for at least one hour. When ready to cook, remove from fridge and allow one hour to come to room temp.
- Pre-heat the oil in your deep-fryer to 350F (or add about 3 inches of oil into a deep pot).
- Add the flour to the wings and toss to coat well. Shake off excess flour.
- Fry the wings in batches, about 15 minutes or until golden and crisp (keep warm in a pre-heated 170F oven or serve as they are cooked).
- Add butter and hot sauce into another pot and heat up until butter is just melted.
- Add your wings into the hot sauce and toss to coat well. Serve on a platter with carrot and celery sticks and blue cheese sauce.
