Chicken

Reinventing Buffalo Wings: Meet the Buffaque Wing

The Buffalo wing is one of the most perfect foods devised by man (or more precisely by woman—see below). Deep-frying makes it crisp; breading keeps it moist; butter gives it richness, and the hot sauce invigorates your taste buds. Plus, you get to eat with your fingers, which is always a plus in my book.

So how could you possibly improve on a snack that’s been an American icon even since Teressa Bellissimo, owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, created buffalo wings to feed a houseful of hungry teenagers in 1964?

Well, I’m going to try, and the answer, you guessed it, involves a grill.

It starts with what I like least about a traditional Buffalo wing: the breading. Yeah, I know fried breading tastes good, but it isn’t really all that good for you. What if you could ditch the breading, and still retain the crispness? What if you could actually boost the flavor by using one of the oldest flavorings known to humankind? That, of course, would be wood smoke.

The Buffaque Wing

Enter the grilled version of a Buffalo wing—cooked by a technique called smoke-roasting (aka indirect grilling with wood smoke). Drumroll, please: I give you the Buffaque wing, and it’s about to turn you into a rock star at your next tailgating party or cookout in 3 simple steps.

1. Replace the breading with a salt-pepper-smoked paprika spice rub , adding baking powder to help crisp the skin.
2. Indirect grill the wings, adding hickory or applewood chips to the fire to generate wood smoke.
3. Give the wings a more modern flavor, substituting sriracha (Thai hot sauce) for the traditional Tabasco. Oh, and add sliced jalapeños. Lots of jalapeños. Wings are supposed to be hot. And sizzled garlic and cilantro—optional of course—but I like how they pump up the flavor.

The result: a wing that fairly explodes with smoke and fire flavors—without doughy breading to distract.

But you’re not done yet, because Teressa chose to serve her Buffalo wings with celery sticks dipped in blue cheese salad dressing. (Back in those days, the relish tray was the height of dining elegance.) My only improvement here is using smoked blue cheese for the dip.

The Raichlen buffaque wing. More flavor. More heat. Less fat.

I like to think that Teresa would have approved.