If you like your wings saucy you’re going to love these grilled buffalo wings. Coated in a thick layer of spicy, creamy buffalo sauce and served with a mouthwatering blue cheese dip, these will absolutely knock your guests socks off (if you can bear to share them). 

Temperatures

Chicken is safe to eat at 74°C but it can still look a little pink around the bone at this temperature. To avoid pink meat, you can take the wings up to 81 – 90°C on your Thermapen and they will still be perfectly tender and fall off the bone. 

Ingredients

For the wings

• 2kg 3 bone chicken wings
• 300g hot sauce (Franks is the OG) or you can make our recipe below
• 150g butter
• 25g garlic powder
• 25g onion powder
• 20ml Worcestershire sauce
• 75g mayo
• BBQ rub
• Celery

For the humble hot sauce

• 500g fresh long red chillies
• 2 scotch bonnets
• 50g salt
• 1L water
• 100g rapeseed oil
• 150g white wine vinegar

For the blue cheese sauce

• 150g mild semi soft blue cheese
• 100g mayo
• 10g cayenne pepper
• 10g garlic powder
• Salt to taste

Directions

To make the hot sauce

• Take the green tops of the chillies off and slice the chillies lengthwise then place in a large glass jar with the salt and the water
• Use a weight or a sandwich bag of water to weigh the chillies down
• Put the lid on and leave at room temperature for 5 – 14 days. The longer you leave them, the more tangy they will be.
• When the chillies have fermented enough for your taste, strain through a sieve and make sure to reserve the brine.
• Blend the fermented chillies with a splash of the fermented brine and white wine vinegar. While blending, stream the oil in until the sauce is smooth.

To make the blue cheese sauce

• Blend all of the ingredients together.

To make the wings

• Start by breaking the wings down into drums and flats, the flat is the piece with 2 bones in it.
• Slice the wings through the wing joint using a sharp knife. Start by cutting the meat to reveal the joint and then carefully slice through the joint using the base of the knife.
• Save the tips of the wings for stocks and sauces, there isn’t much meat on them so there is no point in grilling them.
• Liberally toss the prepped wings in your BBQ rub and leave to sit for at least 30 mins, this allows the rubs to penetrate the meat. The salt in the rub will help dry the skin out, helping to get the crispy skin of dreams.
• While your wings are resting in the rub, light your BBQ. We use a restaurant grade charcoal that is smokeless and gives off high heat. Charcoal is a flavour so don’t skimp on it! The cheap petrol station stuff is covered in nasty chemicals to help get it lit. Look for a local lump wood charcoal, this will give you the best results not only in heat but in flavour.

• While your BBQ is heating up you can make your buffalo sauce. Add your hot sauce to a pan with your butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder. Heat this in a pan until the butter has melted and the powders have cooked out a bit. Take off the stove and add your mayo, this will help the sauces creaminess. You may need to whisk this in to help two become one.

• When your BBQ is hot, place your wings on the BBQ starting around the edge circling in, this is fairly quick cook so don’t go too far, crack a beer and patiently wait!
• After a couple of minutes turn your wings over, try not to move them around too much as you won’t get crispy skin if you keep fiddling.
• Once the chicken is crispy all over its time to grab your Thermapen and start temp checking. Chicken is safe to eat at 74°C but for most this is still that little bit too pink. We are going to go a little higher than this and aim for between 81 – 90°C, this will give you tender fall off the bone meat while making sure there is no pink near the bone. Some wings will cook quicker than others so make sure to temp check as many as possible, pulling done ones off when ready.
• When all your wings are cooked and the skin is super crispy, toss them in your home made buffalo sauce.
• Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese sauce.

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."