Tuesday 15 February 2011

Buffalo wing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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


A bowl of hot Buffalo wings

Origin
Alternative name(s)
  • Buffalo wings
  • Hot wings
  • Chicken wings
  • Wings
Place of origin United States
Region or state Buffalo, New York
Creator(s) Teressa and Frank Belissimo
Dish details
Course served
  • Appetizer
  • Main course
Serving temperature Hot
Main ingredient(s)
  • Chicken
  • Cayenne pepper hot sauce
  • Melted butter
Variations
  • Classic style: Unbreaded and deep fried
  • Pan fried
  • Baked
  • Breaded
  • Grilled
  • Smoked
  • Boneless

A buffalo wing, hot wing or wing is a chicken wing section (drumette or flat) that is traditionally fried unbreaded and then coated in sauce. Classic Buffalo-style chicken wing sauce is composed of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter.[1] Buffalo wings are traditionally served with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.[2]

Buffalo wings were created in Buffalo, New York. The residents of Buffalo generally refer to them as "wings" or "chicken wings" rather than "Buffalo wings."[3]

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Preparation

Cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter or margarine are the basis of the sauce. 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, such as mild, medium, or hot. Typically, the wings are deep-fried (although they are sometimes grilled or baked). The wings are usually fried in oil until they reach close to a golden brown color. They are then drained where they can either be placed in a bowl with sauce or even seasoned with salt and pepper. Following this, one covers the bowl tightly and shakes to coat the wings. As an alternative to waiting to coat the wings until after they are cooked, one can also put seasoning over the wings in a sealed bag and shake them until they are coated evenly. Afterwards, arrange the wings on a baking and wait until they are cook thoroughly. Wings can then be served dry with sauce on the side.

[edit] History

There are four different legends about how Buffalo wings came to be.[4][5] The first story is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar, located at 1047 Main Street (between North Street and Best Street) in Buffalo, New York, United States on October 30, 1964, by Teressa Belissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar with her husband Frank Belissimo. Upon the unannounced, late-night arrival of their son, Dominic, with 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 cayenne hot sauce.[4][5][6][7][8][9] While the wings were deep frying, Teressa decided to serve left over celery sticks with blue cheese to her son and his friends to tide them over.

A cook preparing Buffalo wings
  • A second version, as told by Dominic Bellisimo (Frank and Teressa's son) to The New Yorker reporter Calvin Trillin in 1980, stated: "It was Friday night in the bar and since people were buying a lot of drinks he wanted to do something nice for them at midnight when the mostly Catholic patrons would be able to eat meat again." He stated that it was his mother, Teressa, who came up with the idea of chicken wings.[4][5]
  • The third version of the origin involved a mis-delivery of wings instead of backs and necks for making the bar's spaghetti sauce. Faced with this unexpected resource, Frank Bellisimo says that he asked Teressa to do something with them.[4][5]

Buffalo wings are used in competitive eating events, such as Philadelphia's Wing Bowl and at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.

[edit] Buffalo wings on television

The first mention of Buffalo wings on national television may have been on NBC's Today show in the 1980s. Teressa Belissimo cooked a batch before the camera, and mentioned that she was using a certain hot sauce brand hot sauce by name.[citation needed] Bryant Gumbel commented that the chicken wings looked like "drummies". Increasingly, since the 1970s, restaurants were promoting an entree of the thicker first joint of the wing, calling them "chickies" or "drummies", to people who wanted the flavor of traditional "southern fried chicken" in about ten minutes, versus the twenty minutes or more needed to properly fry the thicker breast, thigh, or drumstick portions of a chicken. The dish radically gained prominence nationally after the Buffalo Bills' four consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl from 1990-1993 focused considerable media attention to the area for an extended period of time, giving Buffalo cuisine significant nationwide exposure. Clips showing cooks preparing the dish continues to be featured on nationally televised sporting events involving the Buffalo Bills and to a lesser extent the Buffalo Sabres.

The Travel Channel show Food Wars held a competition between Anchor Bar and local Buffalo rival Duff's Famous Wings. Duff's narrowly won, with Duff's wings considered to be spicier, while Anchor Bar's was meatier and fried more well-done.[11]

As well in "Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri", Buffalo vs. Chicago, The buffalo team made Buffalo Wings.

[edit] Variations

The appellation "Buffalo" is also now commonly applied to foods other than wings, including chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken, shrimp and pizza that are seasoned with the Buffalo-style sauce or variations of it.

The unique flavor of Buffalo wings is replicated by a number of dishes. A common variation on the "buffalo" sauce flavor is found in potato chips produced by a number of different companies. Many of these "Buffalo Chips" also incorporate a simulated blue cheese flavoring to simulate the complete buffalo wing experience.

The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota serves a more esoteric take on buffalo-flavored food products with their "Buffalo Dog" available at concession stands inside the arena. The hot dog is topped with buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and cole slaw in a unique combination of North Carolina-style slaw dogs and buffalo wings — neither dish is indigenous to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and despite buffalo wings' ubiquity, slaw dogs are uncommon in the Twin Cities.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Horwitz, Jeremy (January 1, 2008). "Chicken Wings, or, Why People Know About Buffalo". Buffalo Chow.com. http://www.buffalochow.com/2008/01/chicken_wings_or_why_people_kn.html. Retrieved 18 November 2009. 
  2. ^ "Wing Facts". Buffalo Wings.com. http://www.buffalowings.com/wing_facts.html. Retrieved January 6, 2008. 
  3. ^ Kinsman, Kat (July 27, 2007). "Buffalo Wings". Slashfood. AOL Food. http://www.slashfood.com/2007/07/27/buffalo-wings/8. Retrieved 18 November 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c d e Harmon, John E.. "On the Wings of a Buffalo or "Mother Teressa's Wings"". Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States. http://www.geography.ccsu.edu/harmonj/atlas/buffwing.htm. Retrieved January 20, 2008. 
  5. ^ a b c d e Trillin, Calvin (August 25, 1980). "An Attempt To Compile A Short History Of The Buffalo Chicken Wing". The New Yorker Magazine. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1980/08/25/1980_08_25_082_TNY_CARDS_000331411?currentPage=1. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  6. ^ "Frank's Red Hot". Frenchfoodservice.com. http://www.frenchsfoodservice.com/recipe/foodservice/prod_franks.jsp?fc=1. Retrieved November 28, 2006. [dead link]
  7. ^ "AnchorBar - Origins of the original Buffalo Chicken Wing". AnchorBar.com. http://www.anchorbar.com/original.php. Retrieved January 6, 2008. 
  8. ^ "Frank's Red Hot History and Facts". Frank's Red Hot.com. http://www.franksredhot.com/recipe/franks/history_facts.jsp. Retrieved January 6, 2008. 
  9. ^ Peggy Trowbridge Filippone. "Buffalo Wings History - The origins of Buffalo Chicken Wings". About.com. http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/buffwinghistory.htm. Retrieved January 20, 2008. 
  10. ^ "James Beard Foundation". THE 2003 JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION COCA-COLA AMERICA’S CLASSICS AWARDS. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080103154411/http://www.jamesbeard.org/about/press/newsdetails.php?news_id=24. Retrieved January 20, 2008. 
  11. ^ Duff's wins war of wings on food show

[edit] External links

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