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

Buffalo wings, chicken wings, or simply wings are chicken wing sections (called flats and rounds), deep fried, and coated in sauce. Although many variations on this sauce exist, the standard Buffalo sauce is composed of only two ingredients: a vinegar-based cayenne hot sauce such as Frank's/Durkee's and margarine or butter. Purists will argue that margarine is required for the right consistency and taste. Most wings are prepared without breading, although this style is not exclusive. 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 have local variations on how they are cooked.

Preparation

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 (for example: suicidal, hot, medium, or mild). For example:

• Mild - 1:1 (Hot Sauce:Butter)
• Medium - 1.5:1
• Hot - 3:1
• "Suicidal" - +3:1

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. Despite their spicy reputation, traditional Buffalo wings are made with Frank's RedHot, one of the mildest hot sauces on the market.

History

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

Although it has been widely accepted that the Anchor Bar was the first place to serve Buffalo Wings, the dish's origin is disputed by both Duff's and Rootie's Pump Room, which both also claim to be the originator of the Buffalo Wing. Unfortunately, Rootie's Pump Room is no longer in business, so there is little likelihood that their claims of having invented them in the 1950s can be confirmed, but the ongoing rivalry between the Anchor Bar and Duff's continues to provide much lively entertainment and sometimes animosity amongst the two establishments as well as those who favor one or the other. Consequently, Rootie's Pump Room still produces "Rootie's" brand blue cheese dip, the most popular dip in the Western New York region.

In Buffalo, locals do not call them "Buffalo Wings", but rather "Chicken Wings" or most often, simply "Wings."

Variants

While Buffalo wings in Buffalo are virtually always unbreaded, some national restaurant chains and taverns outside of Buffalo 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 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.

Another popular variant is "Buffalo Lips", which are bite-sized breast nuggets. These are flour-coated, deep-fried, then soaked in a Tabasco-butter sauce.

Some wing restaurants offer wings spiced with other styles of hot spices, such as Cajun or Caribbean-style jerk spices. Another style popular in Buffalo is "from the pit" or simply "pit". These wings are fried, tossed in BBQ sauce, then placed on the grill for a quick charring. Sometimes the BBQ 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. In addition, you have Boss Sauce which is sweet and spicy hot as opposed to the usual hot and vinegary taste of classic Buffalo-style wings. 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.

It should be noted that although these variations have come to be associated with "Buffalo Wings", purists contend they are not true "Buffalo Wings", and would never consider them such.

Restaurants that serve Buffalo-style wings also frequently serve other dishes, or "bar food", common to taverns in the snow belt: fried cheese sticks (generally breaded with herbs, and made with mozzarella or provolone cheese), pizza logs (pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce rolled in won ton or egg roll wrappers and deep fried), potato skins covered in cheese and bacon, jalapeño poppers (jalapeño peppers stuffed with cream cheese and deep fried in batter), fried mushrooms, pepperoni balls (fried dough or bread stuffed with pepperoni), french fries, waffle towers in the northeast, and so forth.

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.

References

1. "Frank's Red Hot" (html). Frenchfoodservice.com. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. smash "Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Smash" (html). Internet Hot Wing Database. Cluckbucket.com. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

• The Story of the Buffalo Wing. Pamphlet. Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitor Bureau.
• The Owen Sound Sun Times

External links

• National Buffalo Wing Festival
• Anchor Bar official website
• Duff's official Canadian website
• Buffalo Chicken Wing Recipe
• On the Wings of a Buffalo or "Mother Teressa's Wings"
• Visitor Information from Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau
• BOSS SAUCE official website

• American cuisine
• Buffalo, New York
• Chicken
• Appetizers