July 06, 2006
Deep-Frying
I bought a deep fryer a few weeks back in order to realize my destiny of making the perfect buffalo wings. I was actually trying to re-create the taste of my favorite wings, those of Chuck’s in Princeton, NJ. My quest began when I first tried Franks’ Hot Sauce – I quickly realized the contents of Frank’s Hot Sauce along with some butter were used in the sauce at Chuck’s. The sauce consists of: spices( that’s what it said on wikipedia – I don’t have access to the bottle right now), vinegar, garlic and cayenne peppers.
Having nailed down the sauce, I began to think I could and should actually make my own wings. So I bought some wings, put them in the oven and bathed them in the sauce. They turned out decent, but I noticed that I wasn’t achieving the crispiness I desired. The oven was the weak link in this process - I would never be able to attain the ideal crispiness while using an oven. I realized that a deep-fryer would solve my problem, but I didn’t take immediate action because: A) I didn’t think I could find a non-industrial sized deep fryer; and B) I am pretty lazy. I’m not sure what it was, but something inspired me to actually search the internet for a deep-fryer for home-use and of course there were tons of them. I ended up going with one from Target because of its size and everyday low price.
People at the office were as excited as I was about the purchase and offered up some good tips for frying up some wings. I was told to use Peanut Oil because of its high smoke point and flavorful taste, and it was suggested I dip the wings in egg yoke to enhance crispiness
I was pretty excited when I used the fryer for the first time and it did not disappoint. It felt like I was in Chem lab all over again. The sound of the wings cooking in the oil was therapeutic –awesome enough to almost convince me that working at McDonald’s wouldn’t be such a bad gig. The wings turned out good – three people besides me have tasted them and have given their approval. I feel that’s a large enough sample size to call my experiment a success.
I got a quick story for you about chicken wings. You may or may not know that my family is originally from Buffalo and my grandparents have lived there all their lives. My grandfather served in the Navy and then came home, got married, had my mom and worked. Some days after work he and his buddies would go out for a few drinks, you know, as we're all known to do sometimes. This is probably somewhere between 40 and 50 years ago now. Well, one bar they used to frequent was the Anchor Bar in Buffalo which still exists today. In fact, when I was living in Buffalo for a time after college (175 North Street), I lived within a very short walk of the Anchor Bar. Anyway, my grandfather and his friends were drinking one day and the wife of the owner of the bar - I forget her name, but she knew my grandfather well - put a plate of fried chicken wings covered in hot sauce down in front of my grandfather and his friends. She was like, "here... try this." See, back then, my grandfather would tell me, people would always throw away the chicken wings and legs when preparing a chicken. They were generally considered waste and too boney to be consumed. The first time he saw the chicken wings in front of him, he was almost disgusted. It was the equivalent of eating prepared garbage. But he and his friends were the adventurous sort, due in no small part to the alcohol, I'm sure, and so they tried them. I don't need to tell you how much they enjoyed them. When they finished that plate of wings they said to the wife of the owner, "hey, those were pretty good. Let's have some more..." To which she replied, "Sure. You gotta pay for them from now on though..."
Vet this story if you like, but it'll check out. The Anchor Bar in Buffalo is widely known to have been the originator of the chicken wing (or, as you non-Buffalonians call them, 'buffalo wings') and as for my grandfather... well... you’ll just have to take that on faith.
Posted by: mike at July 7, 2006 12:41 PMI think you're spot on. The entry for buffalo wings in Wikipedia also describes how the wing was originally thought of as unappealing. So we must have a factual story if both your grandfather and wikipedia are in agreement.
My parents lived in Buffalo for prob. 10 years - I was born there.....in a town called Williamsville, I believe. Does that ring a bell?
And Frank's hot sauce claims to be the ingredient used in the orginial Buffalo Wings made at Anchor Bar.
Posted by: Sam at July 7, 2006 01:18 PMWilliamsville is where my grandparents currently live. I lived in the city... Franks Red Hot is very popular in western NY as well, however its hard to tell if that was a nationwide thing or just in the buffalo/rochester areas. either way...
Posted by: mike at July 7, 2006 02:57 PM