It’s hard to beat the iconic Buffalo wing. Doused in a red sauce full of peppery twang from the iconic Frank’s RedHot Original sauce that’s the main ingredient — along with butter — it’s been the wing of choice since 1964, when the Buffalo wing was created at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y.
But if your only range of experimentation is whether you want those wings sauced mild, medium or hot, you are missing out all all sorts of flavor potential. Wings are now available both commercially and on the restaurant scene with dozens of different varieties. Home cooks are also discovering that it’s fun to play around with making your own sauces.
Over at Charlie Brown’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill by Starcrest Drive and Wurzbach Parkway, owner Chris Medlock has turned his wings into a citywide sensation, earning multiple nods as the best in the city. He has 15 varieties on his menu, including teh top-selling cherry chipotle sauce he created himself.
“Everybody is looking for something different, but I think the combinations that go over the best in a sauce are the ones that have an element of sweet with them, balanced out by some sort of heat,” Medlock said. “Those opposite sides of the spectrum work. It’s also why dipping hot wings in ranch and blue cheese dressing became so popular; they provided that cooling counter to the heat.”
On ExpressNews.com: Chuck’s Food Shack: Take a tasty BBQ flavor trip outside Texas with Alabama white barbecue sauce
Medlock’s method to cooking his wings is to start them out in the fryer, then he moves them to the grill for a quick cook before tossing them in the sauce. The wings are then transferred back to the grill for a more hardened glaze.
For those of us who don’t have a fryer, or don’t want to deal with the mess, that step can be easily avoided. The standard kitchen oven or a grill is fully capable of doing the job.
Smoked wings are quickly becoming a thing also, but they need a little help. Even though the wings are easy to cook to temperature, a traditional smoker set to around 250 degrees will not tighten up the skin enough for a crispy bite. They need to be finished the Food Shack way, with a high-heat blast over charcoal.
And when it’s time to sauce them up, I like to put the wings in disposable aluminum muffin pans to coat them in the sauce and then I cook them in that pan, too, to keep the grill grates clean.
On ExpressNews.com: 5 San Antonio pollos asados restaurants for great norteño-style Mexican grilled chicken
But make no mistake, sauce is the boss with chicken wings. And although I do make my own traditional style with the Frank’s, I’ll leave it up to the professionals for the fancier blends. Thankfully, there are lots of good options produced from San Antonio-area companies that sell their products both online and at area farmers markets.
Here are five that go beyond the Buffalo and get the Food Shack stamp of approval:
Black Garlic Wing Sauce: Texas Black Gold Garlic puts its signature garlic through a two-month fermenting process, turning traditional white cloves into sweet blackened treats. As a sauce, it’s mixed with a liquefied butter, and it gives wings a bold, smoky pop. It also begs to be used as a basting sauce or marinade for other proteins. ($8.95 for 12 ounces, texasblackgoldgarlic.com )
Golden Hog Huckleberry Heat Sauce: This berry-infused blend with a sugary smack will give the wings a dessertlike feel. Unlike many sauce blends that can be watery due to a vinegar base, this new sauce from Deep River Specialty Foods will stick to whatever it touches and produces great caramelization to the wings. ($7 for 14 ounces, available at the Pearl Farmers Market on Saturdays or by calling 210-380-9987.)
Rodeo Wing Sauce: This newcomer from the lineup of Crawford’s Barbecue products has only been available for a few months. It packs plenty of pepper and vinegar, then gives way to a pineapple juice finish that gives your wings a bridge between classic Texas barbecue and tropical flavor. ($11.95 for 16 ounces, available online at crawfordsbbq.com.)
Smokey Plum Chipotle Sauce: Made fresh out of Fredericksburg by Fisher & Wieser, there is so much plum in the sauce, you can see the fruit residue stick to the bottle. The chipotle is well represented also, producing a balanced heat that doesn’t overwhelm. As advertised on the bottle, it’s also tasty as a cream cheese topper. ($9.95 for 16 ounces, available online at jelly.com .)
Watermelon Grill & Glaze: All the taste of watermelon, minus the mess of cutting one up. This ketchup-based sauce, also made from Deep River, is the sweetest of the bunch, and makes a great outlier wing if you are shooting for multiple flavor options. It also has applications beyond the bird, and would work well as a pork glaze. ($7 for 14 ounces, available online at deepriverspecialtyfoods.com .)
Recipe: Chuck’s Smoked and Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings
Chuck Blount is a food writer and columnist covering all things grilled and smoked in the San Antonio area. Find his Chuck's Food Shack columns on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.comTo read more from Chuck, become a subscriber. cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver
"Sauce" - Google News
August 04, 2020 at 12:30AM
https://ift.tt/3fmfCbX
Chuck’s Food Shack: Go beyond Buffalo wings with an assortment of creative chicken wing sauces - San Antonio Express-News
"Sauce" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35DSBgW
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Chuck’s Food Shack: Go beyond Buffalo wings with an assortment of creative chicken wing sauces - San Antonio Express-News"
Post a Comment