Buffalo Chicken Wings

Picture
Ingredients
12-14 chicken wings (3 pounds)
6 cups vegetable oil, for frying
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons hot sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
salt to taste
2 cups celery sticks
Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled

Directions
  1. Cut off chicken wing tips, reserving for another use, and halve chicken wings at joint.
  2. Heat oil to 375F, pat wings dry, and fry until cooked through, golden and crisp, 5-8 minutes.
  3. Drain on paper towels.
  4. Combine butter, hot sauce, vinegar, and salt over medium heat, and warm until butter is melted.
  5. Add chicken wings and toss to coat.
  6. Combine the mayonnaise and yogurt, and stir in the blue cheese; dressing will not be smooth.
  7. Serve chicken wings warm or at room temperature with celery sticks and dressing.

Critiques
Chef: good flavor, cooked all the way through; the blue cheese sauce was rich with blue cheese flavor and texture, very cooling.
Chef tip: using mixed fresh and dried or powdered chili will add a nice contrast to your sauce. the fresh peppers hit the front of the mouth and dried hit the back and it gives a good all-over heat to the mouth.

Personal/Team critique: sauce seemed a little thin and had a strong vinegar taste, would have liked to see more color to the sauce as well. the blue cheese sauce was a nice accompaniment.

Lessons Learned: 
  • Wings can be baked to make them a little less greasy.
  • You can get more complexity of flavor if you make your own hot sauce using fresh and dried chilies.
  • Instead of clue cheese salad dressing, the yogurt has a better cooling effect and makes a good consistency.