Crispy "Lake Effect" Chicken Wings Recipe

Ingredients:

4 1/4 cups water

1/2-ounce kosher salt, fine grind

1 ounce  Lake Effect seasoning

1/4 cup hot pepper sauce, Frank's red hot or similar

1/4 cup honey, clover or similar

5 pounds chicken wings

1/4 cup Wondra flour

1/4 cup rice flour for frying vegetable oil

1 whole lime juice

Directions:

1. In a large bowl add the Lake Effect, salt, hot sauce and honey, mix thoroughly until the Lake Effect, salt, hot sauce and honey are dissolved.

Using a bowl that will comfortably fit in a VacMaster chamber machine (with the marinade function), submerge the wings in the brine using half or quarter batches. Set the marinade function to number nine (1 hour and 35 minutes) and vacuum. When finished, perform procedure again with remaining wings and remaining brine.

2. Preheat the  SV1 to 62°C/144°F

Drain the wings from the marinade and using appropriately-sized VacMaster  bag(s) and a chamber vacuum sealer vacuum pack the wings and carefully place in the SV1 for a minimum of 2 and up to 4 hours.

3. Remove the wings from the bags, being careful to reserve the cooking liquid.

4. In a medium-size bowl add the Wondra and rice flours and slowly whisk in the reserved cooking liquid until a thin pancake-like batter is achieved.

5. Season the batter with the lime juice and more hot sauce, Lake Effect and salt as to your taste.

6. Following the manufacturer’s directions, set up a deep fryer (or alternatively using a Dutch oven) with the vegetable oil to 375°F.

7. Working in batches, drop the wings into the batter and coat thoroughly. Shake off any excess batter and drop the chicken into the hot oil and cook for 3-5 minutes or until nicely browned.

8. Remove wings to a cooling rack set over paper towels to catch any draining oil, serve immediately.

Notes:

One thing is for certain during the Super Bowl: there will be wings. But how exactly did the Buffalo chicken wing become a football staple? Jump in the way-back machine kids, and let’s shuffle off to Buffalo!

It’s a fun story; Frank and Teressa Bellissimo were closing the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY one evening in 1964. Dominic, the couple’s son, came in with a few friends in dire need of sustenance. As all good mothers do, Teressa rose to the challenge, frying up some chicken wings she was saving for sauce and tossing them with her finest margarine and hot sauce. She served these with some of their blue cheese dressings and celery sticks that legend has it was taken from a leftover antipasto platter, and viola - a classic was born.

The popularity of wings spread across the country in the mid-1980s but I know what you’re thinking, what's the link to football? Well as luck would have it, the Buffalo chicken wing got a lot of coverage when the Buffalo Bills played in the Super Bowl for 4 years in a row from 1990-1993, and the connection was born.

These wings I’m offering you today aren’t in the Buffalo style, as they have a hot sauce spiked crust, but trust me when I say, they are sum good eating!