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Frank Bellisimo?s Anchor Bar in Buffalo is credited as their birthplace, and his wife and cook Teressa as the creator. But there are differing versions of who had the inspiration. One rendition is that their son Dominic came home late one night with a bunch of his hungry friends and asked his mom to prepare a quick snack for them. She deep-fried some of the chicken wings she was using to prepare stock for the restaurant and, when done, doused them with hot sauce. She put them on a platter, grabbed some celery sticks from the antipasto, and served them with a bowl of house dressing, which just happened to be blue cheese. This rather odd impromptu snack was an instant hit.
After Dominic, or Rooster to his friends, took over the family business, he told a slightly different story to the New Yorker magazine. His version had him tending bar on a Friday night back when Catholics were avoiding meat on Fridays. It was a good crowd and, being a good host, he wanted to show his appreciation. He asked his mother to prepare a snack that they could enjoy after midnight when it was technically Saturday and consuming meat was okay. The inspiration for the dish varied, but the results were the same.
Not wanting to be left out of culinary history, Frank Bellisimo?s version has wings being delivered to the restaurant instead of the usual necks and backs he used to make chicken stock. Wanting to take advantage of his good luck, he asked his wife Teressa to come up with something he could serve at the bar instead of tossing them into the stockpot. So she cut off the useless tip and chopped the remainder in half so they would be easier to eat and proceeded to fry, coat with the hot sauce, and serve. "Mother Teressa," as loyal wing lovers refer to her, gets the credit for the recipe, but everyone else wants in on the glory. Who knows, maybe she came up with the idea all on her own.
Whichever version you choose to believe, there are a few constants in the stories. First, Teressa did come up with the recipe including the celery sticks and blue cheese dressing, it first appeared in the early to mid 60s, and it happened at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo.
Throughout the 70s, their popularity was restricted to the East Coast, but the word was spreading. When the Hooters restaurant chain was founded in the early 80s. they built their menu around Buffalo chicken wings and introduced them to the country. In 1994, Domino?s pizza went nationwide with their wings and were closely followed by Pizza Hut. And by 1995, it was estimated that hot wings were a $400 million part of restaurant revenues. Buffalo wings are now not only served nationwide, but worldwide too in such exotic places as in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Yotsuya, Japan, and Singapore, to name a few.
Along with their popularity, legions of wings aficionados have sprung up. For the last couple of years, they have been flocking to Buffalo, New York over the Labor Day weekend to participate in the National Buffalo Wing Festival. Along with wing sauce and wing eating contests, car and truck shows, is the annual "running of the chickens." The 0.5K Chicken Wing Run, which the sponsors bill as "fun for the motivationally challenged," spans exactly 500 "cruel meters or approximately 22 driveways or 51 Winnebagos end to end." And since it?s so difficult to predict the finish times, they give prizes for both the fastest and slowest runners. This is obviously a group that take their wings and fun seriously! For more information on this festival, see
http://www.buffalowing.com/index2.html
Over the years, many have tried to duplicate the Anchor Bar?s Buffalo Wings, but their exact recipe remains a closely guarded secret. On their website they have a recipe, but it requires the use of the Anchor Bar brand of wing sauce. Like with chili, I think that any good hot wing is good whether it?s "authentic" or not. Even though I can?t provide you with the Anchor Bar recipe, I?ve included a few easy recipes that should get you started on developing your own signature "Buffalo" wings.
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Buffalo Chicken Wings
This is the recipe that most people will tell you is the way they make wings in Buffalo. It?s a recipe that?s easy to alter to suit your tastes.
4 pounds chicken wings
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 to 5 tablespoons of commercial Louisiana-type hot sauce, or recipe below
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Accompaniments:
Blue cheese dressing either commercial or recipe below
Celery sticks
Wash the chicken wings and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut the tips off each wing and discard. Using a sharp knife, separate the two remaining pieces at the joint. Sprinkle the wing pieces with salt and pepper.
Pour enough oil in a deep-fat fryer or large heavy pot to cover the wings and heat to 375 degrees. When the oil is hot, add half the wings and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the wings are golden brown and crisp, remove them and drain well on paper towels. Add the remaining wings and repeat the process. Put the wings in a large bowl.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add the hot sauce and vinegar and stir to combine.
Pour the hot sauce over the wings and toss to coat. Arrange the wings on a platter and serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.
Yield: 48 individual wings
Heat Scale: Medium to Hot
