Buffalo wings
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- "Hot wings" redirects here. For the radio host, see Hot Wings.
- This article is about the food Buffalo wings. For the roller hockey team, see Buffalo Wings.
Buffalo wings, wings, or chicken wings are chicken wing sections (called flats and drums) which are often served deep fried and coated in sauce. Buffalo wings are named after the city of Buffalo, New York where they originated, and the appellation "buffalo" is now commonly applied to foodstuffs other than wings that are seasoned with the sauce or close variations on it.
In the Southern United States, wings are often called hot wings, and there are local variations in how they are cooked.
Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar on Main Street, near the corner of North Street, Buffalo, on October 3, 1964[1]. Teressa Bellissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar with her husband Frank, had the idea of deep frying chicken wings and tossing them in Frank's Red Hot sauce[2] for her son Dominic and his friends. One evening, on a spur of the moment, Teressa presented her son with a deep-fried and sauced creation[3], and they were an instant hit. At the time the recipe was created, chicken wings were typically thrown away or reserved for making stock.
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[edit] Preparation
Although many variations on this sauce exist, the original "Buffalo" sauce[verification needed] is composed of only five ingredients: cayenne pepper sauce, white vinegar, butter, salt, and garlic. When using a prepared hot sauce of vinegar and cayenne pepper, the recipe is simply a mixture of hot sauce and melted butter. Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat, with the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat (for example: "suicidal," "hot," "medium," or "mild"). In most cases, each contains the same base sauce but varies in the amount of butter and hot sauce used. 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 dip. Some restaurants serve their wings with ranch dressing as an alternative to blue cheese.
[edit] Variations
While original Buffalo-style wings are unbreaded, a minority of restaurants and taverns use breaded wings. In properly prepared breaded wings, the breading soaks up the hot sauce, making the flavor more even and the wings slightly less messy to eat. Improperly prepared breaded wings, however, taste like regular fried chicken with sauce drizzled over them, rather than "proper" wings.
In addition, some restaurants including Chili's and Pizzeria Uno include on their menus a dish called "boneless wings." However, these are usually made of chicken breast meat and are not considered to be true wings. They are called wings because they are tossed in wing sauce like true wings, although without the sauce they bear more resemblance to chicken strips or tenders.
In addition to the more traditional Buffalo sauce, an almost limitless number of other sauces and seasonings are used to flavor chicken wings, including rubbed spices (such as Cajun or Caribbean-style jerk spices), barbecue sauces (as is used with "pit" wings, finished on a grill), and teriyaki sauces.
Restaurants that serve Buffalo-style wings also frequently serve other dishes common to taverns in the Snowbelt, such as mozzarella sticks, potato skins covered in cheese and bacon, jalapeño poppers, fried mushrooms, pepperoni balls (fried dough or bread stuffed with pepperoni), french fries, waffle towers in the northeast, and so forth.
[edit] In popular culture
Buffalo wings have nothing to do with the buffalo or American bison. This misconception was played for humor on an early Bartles & Jaymes commercial ("To be honest, I didn't even know that they could fly"), and was later demonstrated when Jessica Simpson told a friend "I don't eat buffalo" when asked why she didn't order them on an episode of Newlyweds. During the 1990s, Pizza Hut promoted Buffalo Wings by advertising commercials featuring a winged buffalo. The logo of the American franchise restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings, which is known for its Buffalo wings, features a winged buffalo as well.
The Buffalo Wings were also a professional roller hockey team in Buffalo from 1997-1999. An amateur hockey team currently operates as the Buffalo Wings.
In the 2001 movie Osmosis Jones, Frank is excited to attend a wing festival in Buffalo, New York. The National Buffalo Wing Festival is held every Labor Day weekend in downtown Buffalo, NY.
In 2005, hockey player Sidney Crosby admitted to reporters that he "despised" Buffalo wings while speaking before a game which matched his Pittsburgh Penguins against the home team Buffalo Sabres. Crosby's remarks sparked an intense rivalry among the teams. Ironically, western Pennsylvania has a thriving culture of Buffalo-style wings, with local interpretations of the dish served in most taverns. A number of regional chains (such as Quaker Steak and Lube) specialize in wings and their attendant cuisine.
Buffalo-style chicken wings are frequently used in competitive eating events.
Wings have gained such popularity and such a following that there are now even documented "best practice" eating techniques for wings, e.g., the small bone twist and smash technique.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States. Retrieved on February 27, 2007.
- ^ Frank's Red Hot (English) (html). Frenchfoodservice.com. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Anchor Bar. Retrieved on February 27, 2007.
- ^ smash Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Smash (English) (html). Internet Hot Wing Database. Cluckbucket.com. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- The Story of the Buffalo Wing. Pamphlet. Buffalo/Niagara Convention & Visitor Bureau.
