Hi there and Happy Tuesday! Boy do we have a special recipe for you today!

Its our Family Recipe for Hot Wings! Our family really took a shine to hot wings about 15 years ago. We ordered them at every restaurant that offered them, and we became hot wing connoisseurs! We began to try and figure out what it was about the wings we deemed our favorites, and it was pretty cool, because we all agreed on what we liked and didn’t like. And then my husband Troy decided to try to make them at home. Over time, he tweaked his recipe and cooking technique till we got the family recipe! Now both my son Jake and my husband Troy are excellent at making hot wings. So today we are sharing this epic and fairly easy recipe with you!

This week, our photos are being done by my son Jake, myself and my husband.

Ingredients

• 2 packages chicken wing drummettes (approx 10-12 drummettes per pack)
• Cooking Oil (vegetable) 1 Gallon  (for a deep fryer- if using a frying pan on stove top, fill pan 1/3 with oil)
• 1/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
• 1/3 cup Butter
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing (as a condiment for the wings)
• Cayenne Pepper Optional, to taste (this makes them very spicy, if you like your wings hot, use about 1/4 tsp)
• White Vinegar Optional to taste (1/2 tsp)

Pour oil into the fryer. (we used a deep fryer, but you could also do a stove top pan. Just fill your pan to about 1/3 full).

Preheat the oil to 350° for deep fryer.

Open your chicken wing drumettes. Drumettes are wings that have been cut to provide the meatier drumstick portion of the wing. We started buying these because it is rather difficult to cut the wings yourself, (one dear family member was cutting wings and accidentally cut their hand, which resulted in stitches) but of course you could cut them yourself. However, we are glad to buy them precut.

You can see how this provides the nicest meaty part of the wings. They come with 10-12 per pack, around 1 lb or a little over per pack. It is a good idea to pat the wings with a paper towel before frying.

When oil is ready, place wings in the fryer basket. Have the lid ready because it will really snap and crackle as you immerse the wings into the hot oil.

Down they go! Grab that lid!

They are going to cook for about 10 minutes or until they turn golden brown. In the meantime, lets get started on that hot sauce! Start by pouring about 1/3 cup of Frank’s Hot Sauce into a microwavable cup.

Add in your butter.  ***Note, for milder wings, increase butter. For hotter wings, decrease butter.

Those are the ingredients we put in our sauce. I would say on a spice factor of 1-10, 10 being the spiciest, ours are probably about a 6 or a 7. But that is how we like them.

**If you really want it spicy, add in 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.  (we are fine without it)

**If you want to give your hot sauce some zing, add 1/2 tsp vinegar. (we are fine without it)

Microwave the hot sauce mixture until the butter is melted (1-2 minutes)

My son says the wings take about 10 minutes, take a peek – see how these are nice and golden?

Drain them on some paper towels.

Salt and pepper them.

Remove the paper towels. Time to add the sauce! When you pull the sauce from the microwave, give it a stir to be sure the butter all mixed into the hot sauce.

Pour it slowly and evenly over the wings.

Take a large spoon and gently stir the wings in the sauce to coat them.

Guess what? They are ready! Cheers!

I put these on a bed of lettuce on a plate to make them look nice, but usually they are getting gobbled up so fast there is no time for such frivolities.

Now of course, hot wings go great with ranch or blue cheese dressing! They take the heat off a bit! And of course raw carrots or celery give that nice bit of crunch!

Ok lets plate those wings!

Keep the hot sauce handy incase someone needs a little more.

Fruit is a nice side as well. It helps cut the heat.

Now in my house, the men can eat a lot of wings. 10-12 apiece.

We also throw french fries into the frier… after all you have a whole gallon of oil! Note, your oil will keep for a few days, so you could run the fryer again the next few days.

And who doesn’t love some good crispy fries to go with your wings!

This is definitely a favorite in our house. We have served them for years.

Oh yes, you are going to need napkins. Plenty of them.

Doesn’t that look yummy? Come on over! There’s plenty for everyone. But hurry.

Most people that cook wings will tell you the most important part is the sauce. What makes the sauce epic? Well, that depends on you! And what you like! The perfect sauce for you can be as personalized as your fingerprints! (which will pretty much be everywhere after a big plate of wings!) The key is what do you like? You calibrate that sauce to what appeals to you. More butter, less heat. More heat, less butter. More zip, add some vinegar. You want dragon fire shooting out of your mouth, add the cayenne. You tweak it to your taste.

I did a little research on the history of Buffalo wings, and the story goes that in 1964, a woman by the name of Teressa Bellissimo who was a co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY was making a late night snack for her son and his friends. She cooked up some leftover chicken wings in a peppery sauce and served them up with bleu cheese dressing and some celery. The boys loved them! So it was added to the menu the next day! She called them “Buffalo Wings”. They took the recipe and sauce on the road to bars and restaurants. The spicy wings were a hit everywhere! I love this story! She was indulging her son, and the rest is history!

And then I think of the impact that little moment had on the hot sauce industry, and the chicken industry! Wings were not a highly coveted part of the chicken, but now they are a market in their own right! And just like that… a new stone in the water and ripples that move and change everything!

Typically, we make wings on special weekends, and it actually becomes that piece the weekend is built around! Like a nice piece of furniture in a room! Why? Because its something we all love and have so many great memories that include hot wings!

When Troy’s parents come to town, we will ask what they would like to do for dinner, and they say, “Well some of Troy’s wings might be nice…” When our friend Stephanie in the army comes to town, we ask her what she would like, and she says, “Maybe some of Troy’s wings”. When Shane our oldest son comes into town, we know we are going to try and include wings, and everyone schedules their weekend to make it for the wings! Kevin my brother loves to come when Troy is making wings, he says Troy has that perfect formula for making them with just the right amount of heat, so he can keep eating them!

Jake even took the deep fryer to the place he does MMA training a few months back. They were gathering to watch a fight on the screeen and eat pizza, and Jake brought all the stuff to the gym and made wings! He said they were gone in no time! But the smell was lingering!

It’s something we can do that spoils people with a special treat, and you know what? It feels pretty good to spoil someone! And it makes a great memory, sort of a sensory overload:  with the aroma that makes your eyes water and your nose run, the flavor that makes your taste buds go off the grid on overload, the sound of the frying, the beautiful red orange glistening hot sauce and the cool celery and dressing to extinguish the fire in your mouth!

So I encourage you to find that thing you love,  and become an expert on making it, and plan your next adventure to spoil someone! In the meantime, come sit down and have a plate of wings! It’s the house specialty!

Have a fantastic week, my friend! You put the awesome in awesome sauce!

I’ll be back Friday for another Fashion Friday!

Love Always,

Amy

We do not remember days, we remember moments.   ~Cesare Pavese