Wing Recipes

A friend from Texas once told me that the best wings you'll ever eat are the ones that come off your own grill.  How true John was!  It is in that spirit that we are capping off Tailgate Week with a couple recipes for wing sauce.

I used to frequent a great restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings.  Being that eating out doesn't tend to frequently make its way into our budget, nor do we like to eat too much fried food, we don't go very often anymore..  That doesn't mean, however, that we don't try to recreate some of our favorite stuff in our own kitchen.  Below are the "as-close-as-we've-gotten-so-far" recipes to a couple of our favorite wing sauces.  They are most appropriate for a party in your home although some quick thinking could easily bring them to the parking lot tailgate event.

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MANGO HABENERO SAUCE - My husband's favorite.  A little too spicy for my liking!

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 habenero pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cups mango, peel removed and diced
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

• Heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat
• When the oil is hot, add the onions and diced peppers and sauté 3-4 minutes until onions are translucent
• Add the garlic and continue to sauté another 30 seconds
• To the vegetables add the lime juice and vinegar and bring to boil.  Then reduce heat to a simmer
• Once the mix is simmering, add the rest of the ingredients
• Continue to simmer, cooking the sauce until the mangoes are very soft, about 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and let cool 5-10 minutes
• Once cool enough, put the sauce in a blender and puree

When asked (on a scale of 1-10) how similar this sauce was to the original at B-dubs, my husband responded that it was very close...an 8 or 9.  

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SPICY GARLIC SAUCE - My personal favorite!

Ingredients

• 1 cup favorite pepper sauce (I prefer Frank's)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp water
• 2 tsp cornstarch

Directions

• Combine all ingredients except egg yolk, water, and cornstarch in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until boiling
• Reduce to simmer for 5 minutes
• Remove pan from heat and let cool for 10 minutes
• While sauce cools, vigorously beat yolk and water with whisk for 2 minutes until pale yellow
• Whisk in cornstarch until dissolved
• Slowly drizzle sauce into egg mixture while continuing to whisk

When asked how close this recipe was to its original counterpart, I had two words: SPOT ON!

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For both of these recipes, grill your wings and/or drummies and toss with sauce by putting everything in sealed container and giving it a good ol' fashioned shake.

Finger-lickin' good!