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Friday, January 30, 2009

Foodie Friday - Superbowl Edition

This might very well be the latest Foodie Friday post I have done to date. But better late than never and I just could not pass up the opportunity to talk about Superbowl food.

I'm not a professional sports fan. I much prefer college football, and can even narrow it down further to anyone in the Big 12 as long as their colors are maroon and white and their home field is in College Station.

But there is one thing that transcends any preference over teams or what game is on. Football food. And for me, that primarily means wings.

Yes, I'm a wing kind of gal.

Having this knowledge now, it should be no surprise to you that I was quite disturbed by this special segment on The Colbert Report on Thursday evening:



A WING SHORTAGE?!?!

Well, never fear, I saw wings today at Target. The shortage is not as bad as the media is making it out to be.

Sounds strangely familiar for some reason.

There are two types of wings that I'm aware of. Naked and breaded. I know that the correct/original "Buffalo" way to eat them is naked. However, I'm not in Buffalo. I've tried them both ways and prefer them breaded. Not overly so, but lightly breaded. It seems to help the crispiness and helps the sauce cling to them a little better, in my oh so humble opinion. But regardless of why and however wrong it makes me, it is very simply my (and my man's) wing preference. Light breading.

Some wing places like to entice you with different flavors of sauce on your wings. Honey Barbeque, Teryaki, Spicy Barbeque, Ginger & Garlic, and on and on... It feels like they're trying to be the Baskin Robbins 51 flavors of wings. No thanks. I'll just stick to a nice level of heat from a hot sauce... the more traditional Buffalo wing route.

So, without further ado, here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken Wings
Flour seasoned with salt and pepper
Oil
1/2 - 1 cup Hot pepper sauce (i.e. Tabasco)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter

(You'll notice that I'm not very specific on my amounts... you're getting an idea of how I really cook. I rarely measure anything... except when I bake. Baking is an entirely different animal.)

Prepare the wings by removing the tips and separating them at the joint with a knife or kitchen shears. Dry them thoroughly with paper towels. Coat each in the salt/pepper seasoned flour and place on a wire cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate (uncovered) for at least 30 minutes. Do not discard remaining flour yet.

Melt the butter and 1/2 cup of hot pepper sauce in a sauce pan over medium to low heat. Add more hot pepper sauce as desired for increased heat.

Before removing wings from the refrigerator, pour some oil in a Dutch oven or stock pot and heat it on high heat until it's, well, hot. Once the oil is hot, remove the wings from the refrigerator. Give them one last pass through the flour, then (gently) place them in the *hot* oil. Let them fry for a few minutes. They'll start to float but don't take them out until they are golden brown. Remove to a paper towel lined rimmed baking sheet to drain slightly. Immediately toss with wing sauce in a large bowl.

Serve with blue cheese dressing, beer, and a side of football. It doesn't get any better.

And as far as this Sunday's Superbowl is concerned, I'm cheering for the Rangers. They're in it, right?

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the time of year when I feel like an outsider. At our house, we are basketball fans. I have three teenaged boys so of course they watch the Super Bowl, but it isn't a HUGE deal. Thankfully NBA All Star weekend is a couple weeks later so that is when my boys have a par-tay.

I might make your wings:)