Wings Five Ways with Bleu Cheese Dressing

**Writers Note.  I had the idea for this Post on a whim, I asked if people wanted it a day early and they did, and I got to hammering on keys.  There may be a few mistakes here and there but I was trying to get this out quickly and I was under duress of a few beers.  So Sue Me.  :-)**

About this time last year we threw the Bash of all Bashes.  Stepdaughter Becca graduated from High School and we invited people from all corners of this Great Land of Ours...and they showed up.  We boiled 80 pounds of crawfish, I made pounds of chicken, sandwiches, hotdogs, hamburgers, and the list goes on and on.  There is also the list of things that I didn't have time to cook and among these items were about 20 pounds of chicken wings.  Knowing that they could not be returned (Duh) I got to cooking them a few days later and, quite literally, called friends from the area to come by and pick up wings.

"I know you didn't ask for them....No, I'm not charging for them....Are they Leftovers?  No, I'm frying them right now....Look, just get your ass over here and get some free wings, alright?...Oh, and I made Bleu Cheese Dressing too".

To be honest, the base recipe for Buffalo Wings is so basic as to be hilarious.  I'm just going to present a few other options.  Oh, and since Summer is here and we are having Wings, I'm back to Beer for a bit.  Tonight, I'm finishing off the last Fat Tire Amber Ale (Dubbed, by Myself, to be the Best Beer on the Planet) and then moving onto the calling of my Homeland...Labbat's Blue.  On with the show..........

Two Wing Styles
Five Ways to Wing
Bleu Cheese Dressing for Wings (there's a difference)

Two Wing Styles
This will be a short section since it is quite simple.  There are two styles of wings to choose from. Wing Purists swear there is only One True Wing but if you travel enough, you will find people get what they want and in order to give people what they want you have to make the adjustments.

The Classic Wing is a bare wing, no seasoning, no breading, and deep fried.  Once fried, they are tossed in a myriad sauces.  The other style is simply breaded.  The level of breading is subject to where you get them and what you prefer.  Of course, the breading does help the sauces and flavors stick and even accumulate on the wing.  It's up to you how you.

The basic of the "Fry" is simple:
Bare Wings: Hot Oil at 350 degrees, toss in wings until they are done.  About 10 minutes
Breaded:  Hot Oil at 350 degrees.  Make sure the wings are dry.  Toss in a bag of flour until coated and, shake off all the excess, deep fry until Tasy Golden Brown.  Again, about 10 minutes.  Either way, drain on a rack or paper towel.  After this, its a matter of having a large bowl to toss the wings in sauce.

Now, for the purposes of getting on with business, I prefer the flour tossed, slightly breaded wing since it carries more sauce/flavor in the end.  Oh, and pay attention.

Five Ways to Wings
The first few recipes might seem basic bit I'm going to throw one down at the end that will blow the average wing out of the water.  There is one constant of the Wing and you need to plenty of it on hand:  Butter.  Good, old fashioned, butter. The basic Buffalo Wing Recipe is (the butter explanation follows):

One
1 part Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 part Butter
Pinch of Sugar.
Combine in sauce pan, heat, and stir.

Theres a little science to this.  The trick to this is the solids in the butter and the vinegar in the hot sauce react and the solids get thicker and help stick to the wing.  Also, as the butter cools, it helps to act as a glaze.  The sugar, well, it's just there to help out and I would say that a pinch of sugar in anything is rarely bad.  With the millions of hot sauces out there, picking a taste that suits you should be a fun, taste testing time and the level of heat has as huge range from Warm to Stupid.

Two
1 part Off the Shelf BBQ Sauce
1 part Butter
1/4 part IPA, Stout, or other Dark Beer.
Combine in sauce pan, heat, and stir.

The same principles apply here as above, the problem you'll run into is that there is more vinegar in the BBQ sauce than the hot sauce and it gets a bit thick and a little hard to work with...which explains the beer.  Thin out the sauce with just enough beer to make it workable.  The cool thing is that there are dozens and dozens of BBQ sauces to work with.  Pick your favorite and make it your own wing sauce.

Three
1 part Off the Shelf Teryaki Sauce
1 part Butter
1 tsp White Wine Vinegar per part of Teryaki
Combine in sauce pan, heat, and stir.

I think, by now, you're getting the idea.  In this case, the Teryaki doesn't have enough vinegar to "Fluff" the butter and make it thick.  The point being that if you want to get away from the hot sauce/BBQ angle, you may have to add a little bit of vinegar to help things out.  Get creative.  You never know what you might come up with.

Four
...and now for something completely different.  And quite simple

Enough melted butter to coat your wings
Standard, off the shelf Lemon Pepper

Thats it.  Coat the wings in butter and then shake the lemon pepper on until the desired level of Yummy.  I know this sounds seriously simple but I spent a great deal of time trying to think of a sauce that would go on thin, get thick, and stay tangy to the end.  I never could get it right until I watched a Korean fellow at a local wing joint making them.  I really did think about pounding my head against a wall over the effort I put into it only to find out how stupidly simple it was.  Just trying to save you a little aggravation.

However, I did figure out a recipe.  Really, you didn't think I was going to post the above without giving a homemade option, did you?

Four (again)
1 stick Butter
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Fresh Ground Pepper
2 tbsp sugar
Combine in sauce pan, heat, and stir.  You may want to add more or less sugar for the level of tart you like.

Strawberry Chipotle Wings (Five).
There was one night last summer that I had wings to fry, I had some Red Stripes, and I had time to do what I wanted, so I sat back and thought.  What I came up with was nothing less than The Hammer of a wing.

1stick plus 3 tbsp Good Quality, Organic Butter (as I have said before, the taste is insanely better)
1 medium Shallot, small dice
1/3 cup Carolina style BBQ sauce (lots of vinegar)
1/3 cup Strawberry Jam
1/4 cup Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ground Pepper
1/4 cup Stout Beer (drink the rest)
Saute shallot in 3 tbsp butter until slightly caramelized.  Melt remaining butter, add the rest of the ingredients, and bring to a simmer for about five minutes.  On occasion, I like to toss the wings in sauce, bake them for about 10 minutes, and toss them again.  I'm also a fan of the texture of the Chipotles on the Shallots but if you like a smoother sauce, whiz it with a hand blender to a fine puree.

Bleu Cheese Dressing
I could buy a great dressing but making one serves many purposes including letting me use my own choice of stinky Bleu cheese and using as much as I like.  

3/4 cup Strong Bleu Cheese, crumbled fine (Maytag or otherwise)
1/2 cup Mayo
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
2 tbsp fresh, chopped Chives
1-2 tbsp Cracked Pepper
Dash of Hot Sauce
Salt to taste.
Whisk ingredients together in a bowl adding the cheese last.  Let this sit for at least a few hours if not a day in the fridge before you use it.  If you're not a Bleu Cheese fan, well, then I'm really sorry.  To some, its the cooling effect of the dressing but to me, its the idea of taking something quite spicy and throwing that pungent, stinking cheese on top of it...and then cooling it off with a Tasty Beverage of the Adult Variety.  The amount of cheese is up to you but i like alot....Obviously.

There you have a few recipes for some seriously tasty wings of many forms.  The Buffalo wing was invented not out of a thought, study, and culinary expertise.  The Wing was born in a hurry, to be served at the end of the night when the rest of the supplies were put away or had been exhausted.  Don't believe me?  Look it up.  The point is, this is a quick snack that can be thrown together in no time, or, it can me quickly made in mass quantity for a ton of people.  One way or another, To Wing is not that difficult, the tastes can range from simple to insanely hot, its one of the easiest recipes to adjust to your liking....and its a great reason to be drinking in the Kitchen...not that I needed another one anyway.

Party Well, Eat Better
Rob