Recipe 2: Buffalo Wings

If you live in Dublin, you'll probably know that the Buffalo wings at The Elephant and Castle in Temple Bar are pretty good. In fact, you may have waited a long time for a table just to have some. Did you know how easy it is to make really, really good Buffalo wings at home?

They key here is the sauce. I always imagined that it must be really complicated to make a good sauce for Buffalo wings, I've sat eating wings at The Elephant and Castle and tried to deconstruct the sauce in my head but always felt that it must take years to unlock the secret.

The truth is that, just like Roland hi-hats, all it it takes are two ingredients.

1. Frank's Red Hot sauce
   
2. Melted butter.

That's it!

Preparation is made even easier by the fact that you simply mix the two ingredients 50/50. Frank's Red Hot is now stocked in many Irish supermarkets.

Instructions: Fry a small batch of chicken wings in hot oil for 11 minutes and ensure that skin is as crispy as possible. Alternatively, mix wings in a bowl with a little olive oil until coated and bake at 220 degrees for up to an hour or, again, until skin is as crisp as possible. I usually do them in the oven as you can make a large amount at once and then start eating.

I can't overstate the importance of crispy skin on your wings. There are few things worse than wings with slimy, soft skin.

Melt a good amount butter in a saucepan add Frank's Red Hot and stir until you have a rich reddish-orange coloured sauce. You can adjust the mix to taste but 50/50 butter and hot sauce is a good guideline.

Place your cooked wings in a bowl and pour your completed sauce over them, stir with a wooden spoon to ensure wings are evenly coated. Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dip.

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