What Else Makes Me Happy?

Buffalo wings. Lots of buffalo wings.


Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
* 4 to 5 pounds chicken wings
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 4 cups vegetable oil
* 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
* 5 Tablespoons Louisiana-brand hot sauce or Tabasco sauce
* 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

Preparation:
Chop off the tip of each chicken wings, and discard it. Chop the wing in half(cutting at the joint) to make 2 pieces. Grind on fresh black pepper.

Heat the oil over high heat in a deep skillet, Dutch oven (hahahahaha!), or deep-fat fryer until it starts to pop and sizzle (around 400 degrees F). Add half the chicken wings and cook until golden and crisp, stirring or shaking occasionally. When done, remove them to drain on paper towels and cook the remaining wings.

Melt the butter or margarine over medium heat in a heavy saucepan, add the hot sauce and the 1 tablespoon of wine vinegar. Stir well and remove from the flame immediately.

Place the chicken on a warm serving platter, pour the sauce on top, and serve.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings (whatever that means)

Note: Buffalo Chicken Wings are traditionally served with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.

Blue Cheese Dressing
Ingredients:
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 cup sour cream or nonfat sour cream
* 3 cloves garlic
* 1/8 tsp sugar (why bother, really?)
* 1/4 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons blue cheese

Preparation:
In a food processor or heavy-duty blender, combine buttermilk, sour cream, garlic, sugar, paprika, and salt. Blend until smooth. Add blue cheese, and pulse quickly once or twice. Do not blend. You want small chunks of blue cheese.

Refrigerate 4 hours or more before serving to let flavors blend.

Yield: About 1-1/3 cups

I am salivating.

**Note: Best buffalo wings by far are those served in Brisbane at Blue Smoke. I'm not kidding. I went all the way to NYC to discover how good they are. Pic below is a shot of mostly-demolished buffalo wings from Blue Smoke. I would recommend not getting the 3rd Degree buffalo wings, as you will probably end up in hospital. They are insane.