They say it began in 1964 in Buffalo New York.

The story goes that Buffalo Wings were “invented”, or at least first served in this fashion, at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo New York.  A late night hungry crowd arrived, the bartender asked his mother to fix something special and all she had laying around was chicken wings, usually destined for the stock pot.  She deep fried the wings, tossed them with a few “secret” ingredients, served them with Bleu Cheese Dressing and celery sticks, and Buffalo Wings were born.  It was 1964.

I don’t remember first having chicken wings served like this until much later, maybe the 80’s.  Perhaps it was an East Coast thing until then.  At any rate, chicken wings prepared in the Ancho Bar style, Buffalo Wings, have been showing up on restaurant, bar and grill, and bistro menus ever since.  The evolution of the Buffalo Wing has run the gamut, ie, chicken wings are now served up in any number of different ways from sweet to blazing hot to exotic.  Chef’s everywhere have concocted wild versions of this now classic appetizer.

For me, I personally prefer the wings prepared with a bit of breading, more resembling southern fried chicken than the sloppy, red finger staining mess that is the original Buffalo Wing.  I still like a dipping sauce, probably leaning toward Ranch now than Bleu Cheese.  The celery sticks are inconsequential in any case.  If I’m still hungry after the wings are gone, I may dip a celery stick to two out of sheer boredom (waiting for the rest of my meal or another beer).  Speaking of beer, it is the quintessential beverage to be consumed with Wings of any type.

Buffalo Wings, the original style, are easy to make and the so-called secret recipe is not that big of a deal.  Basically, the wings are deep fried at 375 until crispy (make sure they are dry and have no moisture on them before dropping them in the oil).  There is no specific cooking time as that will depend on the size of your wings.  If they are akin to a full sized chicken drumstick, cooking time is much longer.   These condor sized drummettes are not preferred for chicken wings, opt for the smaller or medium sized wings.

The sauce?  I use Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce.  Take equal parts hot sauce and melted butter.  Mix in Lawry’s season salt to taste.  When the wings come out of the oil, drain, then dredge in the sauce.  Serve immediately or they become soggy in no time.

Over the years, I got lazy a number of times and purchased frozen versions of Buffalo Wings.  Bad mistake.  They have run the gamut from vile to somewhat passable resemblances of the original product.  I had such an experience last night.

I lost my mind the other day and purchased the TGI Fridays attempt at Buffalo Wings.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll bet $5.00 that their in house version of Buffalo Wings may be good.  But this frozen version left a lot to be desired…they were just plain nasty, and here is why.  Remember that scene in the (Jeff Goldblum) version of The Fly when they experiment with a steak being transmitted between the pods?  Geena Davis spits out her first and only bite of the transmitted version, “Ew…it doesn’t taste right!”  The explanation being the computer didn’t know how to duplicate the taste or some such prattle.  Well, this is exactly what came to mind when I ate the TGI Friday wings.  They looked like Buffalo Wings, smelled like Buffalo Wings, but they tasted like some sort of scientifically regurgitated laboratory facsimile of a Buffalo Wing.  I must admit that I gave them a few more tries and that phoney, chemical taste got worse.  It was a tart, citrusy, spicy attempt at an old, very recognizable flavor profile…it just didn’t cut it.  In fact, it was gross.  It tasted…fake!

I realize if one has a hankering for Buffalo Wings that this may seem like the second best choice for full filling a chicken wing desire just behind heading to, well, TGI Fridays, or Applebees, or that Buffalo Wild Wings franchise I have yet to try.  I must say there have been a few frozen versions over the years that were close to par, unfortunately, none of the brands come to mind right now.  But certainly, not the TGI Friday’s attempt.

As someone with somewhat of a chef’s attitude”, ie, fresh is best, etc, etc,…I have these suggestions.  If you’re not going out, make your own wings at home.  Yes, it’s messy but quite satisfactory compared to the above alternative.  Use fresh wings.  The bags of frozen (unseasoned, unsauced) wings are OK keeping in mind they have been brined, soaked in a sodium citrus toxic waste type mixture for flavor.  That’s not a bad thing, just keep it in mind if you’re watching your sodium or chemical toxic waste intake.  And speaking of watching one’s intake,  keep in mind one small chicken wing has about 100 calories, 57 calories from fat, mostly saturated.  If you consume an order, say 8 wings…well, you do the math…and don’t forget to add the extra 100+ calories per wing for the Blue Cheese Dressing.  I’m kinda thinking you’re pounding about 1600 calories per order of wings!  And most of that is fat.

So whichever path you take when it comes to satisfying that chicken wing desire, do it in moderation I guess would be my suggestion.  I don’t succumb very often, but when I do, I would like a chicken wing that hasn’t gone through the BrundleFly machine, coming out the other side tasting like a computer’s interpretation of what a Buffalo Wing tastes like.

And as the story goes, it all began at a little bar in Buffalo New York in 1964.  Chicken Wings good!!!

PS  Of course, it could just be my taste buds are little off of late.  Nah…they were bad!