After trying something new with a Spoon Bread yesterday, today I did one of my personal favorite comfort foods, Buffalo Chicken Wings from page 92 of the Northeast section.
Buffalo wings are one of those treats that truly depend of where you’re getting them. Bad wings can be soggy, limp and mild, which is a real bummer when you’re mouth is watering for the real thing! But good wings are truly sublime — crispy, tender with a hot and spicy sauce that you need to balance with some cool blue cheese dipping sauce and crunchy celery sticks. Martha’s recipe were good wings, in fact, they were so good that Jeff said they were the best he’s ever had!
I used to work in a restaurant where the chef did his version of buffalo wings, opting for a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce instead of the traditional hot sauce. He taught me a little secret of how to do perfectly crispy wings — let the wings sit out on a sheet pan for at least an hour, so that they’re dry when they hit the hot oil, this makes the skin ideal for frying to a perfect crisp. Personally, I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Buffalo wings and I prefer to use Frank’s Hot Sauce on mine as Martha’s recipe calls for. I also like to use the whole wing, ’cause some say less is more but when it comes to eating my Buffalo wings, I think more is more! I really loved trying Martha’s homemade dipping sauce. Even with the best brands like Marie’s, store bought blue cheese dressings skimp on the blue cheese. When you make your own you can crumble as much as you want and I want lots of blue cheese in my dipping sauce!
This has been a tough week and it’s only Tuesday. Yesterday I found out my cat was very ill and today my main computer shut down due to a hard drive failure. I’m kind of wondering what’s in store for me next on this hot 4th of July week? Identity theft? Maybe a third degree cooking burn? I don’t know, but as they say, when it rains it pours. I do know that it’s a good week for some serious comfort food and these delicious Buffalo wings sure did the trick!
