Restaurant-Style Buffalo Wings with Sauce Recipes [photos]

I've been playing around with my new electric deep fryer lately, and decided to do buffalo wings this weekend.

I gave them a test run Saturday night with traditional buffalo sauce, and they were so good that I did 32 more last night.. with other homemade sauces.

I also did some chicken livers.

First, I made the sauces ahead of time so I wasn't stuck doing a bunch of things at once. Some harden when cool, but a quick nuke helps. The wings are usually hot enough to warm the sauce anyway.



I began with chicken livers. Soaked in buttermilk and breaded with flour.
These were really difficult to work with, but I was able to get a few done.

The sauce is traditional buffalo sauce cut with buttermilk and mayo. I was inspired by the creamy buffalo style sweetbreads at Sylvain.



Ingredients:
2/3 cup hot pepper sauce - I used Crystal
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste

Directions:

Combine the hot sauce, butter, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt in a pot and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer while stirring with a whisk. As soon as the liquid begins to bubble on the sides of the pot, remove from heat, stir with the whisk, and set aside for use.

^ This is the traditional buffalo sauce recipe. From there, I added the mayo and buttermilk.

Next, I began the wings.

I cut them into pieces like restaurants use.. flappers and drummettes. I do not like breading on a wing like Hooters does, so no breading.. but keep the skin. That's where you'll get your crunch. Fry at 375 for 7 minutes.

Sriracha-Garlic Sauce:



1/2 cup sriracha hot chili sauce (or to taste)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
4 cloves garlic, minced

This one was very spicy. The spiciest of them all, actually. But delicious. And thick.

Next, was the traditional buffalo:



Recipe is above, minus the mayo/buttermilk.

Next, an Octo-Vinaigrette recipe from Momofuku. Good, but the weakest of all 6 sauces.





2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chili pepper
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons canola, vegetable or grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
freshly ground black pepper

Simply mix the vinaigrette. No heat needed.

Next, Cayenne Honey Mustard. My favorite.





This was super easy. I used honey mustard dipping sauce, a little extra honey, Crystal hot sauce, and cayenne.

Absolutely delicious.

Finally, a sweet and spicy Asian sauce.





Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 chipotle peppers, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 green onions, sliced

I added Huy Fong's chili garlic sauce and some hoisin to this recipe. Simmer until thickened. Very sweet, but the chili garlic sauce gave it some spice.

The top two were definitely the traditional buffalo and the cayenne honey mustard.
Next would be the Sriracha Garlic. Followed by Sweet and Spicy Asian. Finally, Momofuku.

All were very good. Even the "weakest" was something I'd happily eat again.