Wing Wing, Your Appetite is Calling

My hometown of Buffalo, NY, has a reputation as a Rust Belt backwater. The truth be told, it happens to be a great place to eat.

Buffalo is the only place you’ll find “beef on weck” – a roast beef sandwich on a salted kimmelweck roll. Ted’s hot dogs and Anderson’s custard are renown among foodies.

But the food most closely linked to my home are Buffalo wings, traditionally fried wing segments tossed in hot sauce and served with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

We don’t call them Buffalo wings in Buffalo. Just wings, as in “Are you going to eat that wing?” and “Where should we order wings from tonight?”

The quintessential wing was invented in 1964 at Frank and Teressa Bellissimo’s Anchor Bar near downtown Buffalo. According to lore, one Friday night the Bellissimo’s son Dominic was tending bar when a large group of his friends dropped in for a late snack.

Dominic asked his mother to whip up some food. But in the kitchen, Teressa discovered that a vendor had mistakenly delivered chicken wings instead of their usual meat order.

With a crowd clamoring for food in the bar, in desperation Teressa fried the wings and slathered them with a buttery hot sauce, and served them up with celery and blue cheese dressing.

A classic was born.

Another moment of gustatory fact-checking: The Anchor Bar did not invent the idea of putting hot sauce on fried chicken. Hot sauce has been kicking up foods since time immemorial.

But the Anchor Bar does deserve credit for the unique hot sauce recipe and the presentation with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

Having said that, I’m not the first to say that the Anchor Bar’s wings aren’t outstanding. There are better wings in Buffalo, and even better ones outside of Buffalo (locally, the wings by A-1 Pizza and Subs on Maiden Choice Lane are consistently excellent, which is why we keep them on speed dial).

The Anchor Bar has turned into a tourist trap that’s been coasting on its reputation for years. But when visiting Buffalo with friends, they invariably want to see Niagara Falls and the Anchor Bar. So I’ve been forced into visiting several times.

The interior is filled with wing-themed paraphernalia, posters, artwork, and countless newspaper and magazine clips about the Anchor Bar. During one of these visits, I discovered on a wall -- way up near the ceiling -- an ancient yellowed newspaper clip.

There, in tiny print beneath the body text of the article, was Teressa Bellissimo’s original hot sauce recipe. Jackpot!

Ever since, we’ve been making our own authentic Anchor Bar wings at home.

But I’ve improved on the method somewhat, by using white meat from split breasts rather than wings. This allows us to eat faster, and the remaining breast bones are saved in a ziplock bag in the freezer for chicken soup (which happens to be the subject of my next column).

Any piece of meat can be used for Buffalo chicken – drumsticks, thighs, wings – but our favorite is bite-sized crispy pieces of white meat chicken.

Very lightly dredge 1-1.5 pounds of chicken pieces in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. You don’t want a thick coating on the chicken, but a little flour helps the sauce stick better.

Fry the chicken in hot vegetable oil until well done. Drain and set aside. Cut sticks of celery into strips, saving the leafy ends and leftovers for your chicken soup.

The Anchor Bar recipe calls for four tablespoons (half a stick) of butter, one tablespoon of vinegar (white or cider vinegar), and Frank’s Hot Sauce.

Buffalo wings, by definition, are hot. There is no such thing as barbecue Buffalo wings or teriyaki Buffalo wings. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they are no more Buffalo wings as a Philly cheesesteak sandwich could be meatless.

So the only question is how hot you want your wings. Melt four tablespoons of butter, add a tablespoon of vinegar, and for mild wings add about eight tablespoons of Frank’s Hot Sauce. For hot wings, 11-12 tablespoons.

Stir the sauce in a bowl, toss in chicken pieces, and serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

Yum.