Restaurant-style Spicy Hot Wing Sauce Recipe

I like it when people are surprised about my abilities in the domestic sense. Yes, I actually know how to cook and it's a talent that has saved me from having to rely on fast-food all the time when I moved out of my parents' home. I'll let you in on another secret: I love cooking for friends. It all started when they frequently hung out at my place during weekends. I was getting tired of the usual Chinese take-out that I decided to cook for them using my family's easy pork marinade recipe for some Asian-inspired pork chops. Then we started to have potluck dinners once a month aside from our weekly movie nights. It was becoming our own tradition. I appreciate how these people are my biggest supporters when it comes to my spur-of-the-moment culinary experiments, from simple healthy dinner recipes to appetizers and desserts. Last weekend, I took things up a notch and whipped up my own version of a spicy hot wing sauce recipe for movie night.

Everyone loves a serving of good, old Buffalo wings when having beer with some friends. Commonly marketed as an appetizer, these deep-fried, breaded chicken wings are coated in a sauce of vinegar-based cayenne pepper, hot sauce and butter. To temper the heat, they are served along with celery sticks and blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping. It's sinfully delicious and very addicting but also costly when you order them from restaurants each time. So to save cost and practice my own culinary talents, I decided to search the internet for an easy do-it-yourself recipe that replicates the spicy, buttery delight of a Buffalo wings dish.

This is where I came across All Recipes and their recipe for a Restaurant-Style Buffalo Chicken Wings (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/restaurant-style-buffalo-chicken-wings/). To start with, here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 chicken wings

Oil for deep frying

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup hot sauce

1 dash ground black pepper

1 dash garlic powder

The best part? All the items can be sourced from a well-stocked pantry. No need to rush to the nearest grocery for some last minute purchases. To prepare, here are the steps:

1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. Place chicken wings in a large nonporous glass dish or bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). The oil should be just enough to cover wings entirely, an inch or so deep. Combine the butter, hot sauce, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir together and heat until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat and reserve for serving.

3. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of wings begin to turn brown. Remove from heat, place wings in serving bowl, add hot sauce mixture and stir together. Serve.

Forget the chips and the popcorn; this was the new movie night superstar! It was so good that my friends were even hinting for another batch and looked crestfallen when I told them I only cooked enough for the evening. Looks like I have an idea what they'll be requesting in the next potluck dinner. Teressa Bellissimo had no idea she created such a phenomenon back in 1964 when all she did was prepare something to eat for her son's friends. The chicken wings have come a long way from being merely relegated as scraps worthy of stock or soup pot.