Buffalo Sauce is a hot sauce, whose origin is from Buffalo (surprisingly). It was 1964, the owner of the Anchor Bar, Teressa Bellissimo, had a gang of hungry children around her and limited ingredients. So she did what the best chefs do: she unleashed her creative side. She combined hot sauce, garlic, salt, and butter and fried some chicken wings, tossed the wings in her special sauce, and then fried them again. The boys loved the new invention and the next day spicy wings were on the menu at the bar.

The Taste

Buffalo sauce is spicy, sour and sweet at the same time. The addition of melted butter gives it a creamy flavor, a flavor profile not often found in hot sauce. The most traditional type of chili in this type of sauce is the cayenne. Cayenne peppers are used very often and are especially popular when dried and used as chili powder or chili flakes to add flavor to recipes or sprinkle over the final dish. The Cayenne provides a decent level of heat, sitting between 30k and 50k on the Scoville scale.

They even have their own day…

Buffalo Sauce’s popularity is really due to coincidence and timing. In 1977, the city of Buffalo declared July 29 to be National Chicken Wing Day. Throughout the 1980s, Buffalo wings became a staple in bars across the United States. There were even bars specializing in beer and wings with big screens where you could watch football and baseball (Hooters stands out here, which became famous for more than its wings). Even chains like McDonalds and Burger King began to include them on their menu. The pinnacle was reached in 1995 when the Buffalo Bills football team played in the Superbowl final and to celebrate this feat both Dominos and McDonalds added Buffalo wings to their menus.Buffalo sauce can be used for glazing, dipping, cooking, and marinating. Obviously the most common use for Buffalo sauce is wings!

Traditionally, the wings are mixed with flour, herbs, and spices, deep-fried, and then served with Buffalo sauce. My recipe is a little lighter and much tastier. Coat some wings with a little melted butter, then dip them in a mixture of flour, oregano, chili powder, and salt. Then put them in the oven (or airfryer) at 180 °C for about 20 minutes. Once they’re ready, take them out and toss them in a hot sauce combination (TheSauceMan Remolacha and Chipotle or TheSauceMan Original Habanero works very well) and honey and leave them for an hour. Then put them back in the oven, this time for ten minutes at 200°C.

The wings will come out crispy, sweet and spicy, a cacophony of flavour that will make your heart sing. The traditional garnish is still the best: some fresh celery and carrot sticks along with a blue cheese sauce (crumbled Roquefort and mayonnaise) – the perfect accompaniment to this American classic.