The AB Method

I found an amazing recipe for making buffalo wings on Alton Browns' website and tweaked it to our preference over a couple of times making chicken.  Yes, I said making chicken, as I apply this method to a few different cuts of chicken, not just wings.  You see, we like our chicken buffalo style but don't always have wings on hand.  Also, wings are more expensive than drumsticks or thighs.

(You can also roast your chicken this way and sauce them however you want, I'm doing a little bit of BBQ sauce too.)

With this method, you can render most of the fat from your meat which
1) is more healthy
2) allows the skin to get crisp and
3) means less smoke in your kitchen when you open the oven

What You'll Need:

FOOD

-Enough chicken to feed two people

-3oz Butter

-1 Large Clove Garlic (or 2 Medium Cloves)

-1/8 Cup Hot Sauce

-1/8 Cup Wing Sauce

-Sriracha (to taste)

HARDWARE

-Large Pot

-Steamer Basket

-Small Saucepan

-Medium Bowl

-Cutting Board

-2 Cookie Sheets

-2 Cooling Racks

-Paper Towels

-Parchment Paper

-Knife

-Tongs 

We start by steaming the chicken drumsticks for 20 minutes.  Just take a large pot and put an inch or two of water in it, then set a steamer basket in the pot.  Add chicken, cover, turn burner to medium low.  Once you see water start to collect in the lid, set timer for 20 minutes.  Bigger cuts of chicken will require longer steaming.

While the chicken steams: 

-Set aside 3oz of butter, a large clove of garlic, and a small saucepan.

-Set out a cookie sheet and line it with paper towel, then place a cooling rack on the paper towel.

-Make space in your refrigerator on the bottom for the cookie sheet to fit in.

Once the chicken is finished steaming, transfer to the cooling rack on the cookie sheet lined with paper towels and place in fridge for at least 20 minutes.

During this chill time, preheat the oven to 425˚F.  Chop the garlic, and slice the butter so it melts better.  Put both ingredients into the small saucepan and turn to lowest heat setting on your stove top.

 

Prepare a secondary cookie sheet, this time lined with parchment paper, and topped with a cooling rack.  Check on your butter once in a while to make sure it is melting, and not getting to the point of burning.  We want to keep it melty and warm until we need it, and we want to let that garlic flavor meld into the butter as long as possible.

Now, according to AB (who is, by the way, my most favorite culinary genius of all time), Frank's Red Hot is the original sauce brand used when buffalo wings were invented.  So, needless to say, that is the brand of hot sauce and wing sauce we use.  Feel free to substitute your favorite, but know that results will vary.

You can combine the following ingredients into your bowl at this time, or wait until the chicken is in the oven:
1/8 cup hot sauce, 1/8 cup wing sauce, and drizzle in the sriracha sauce.  Mine looks like the following image

Once the oven is heated to the correct temperature and the chicken has completed its chill time, transfer to your secondary cookie sheet and cooling rack, placing the chicken skin side down.  Pop into the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, turn the chicken over and set your timer for an additional 20 minutes.  The chicken should now be roasting skin side up.

When the timer is a few minutes from going off, you'll want to mix your garlic butter into your sauce bowl.  If you're like me (and in this case you really should be like me), I wash my tongs between uses so I'm not touching cooked chicken or anything else with tongs that have touched raw chicken.  I use my clean tongs to mix it up thoroughly, and it does take a few minutes to fully combine the sauces with the butter.

As the timer sounds, take the chicken out and individually toss in the sauce and place back on the rack.  Stick the chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes.  You can go ahead and turn the oven off, the residual heat will bake the sauce onto your chicken.

Pour the extra sauce into a ramekin or other small dish for dipping and serve alongside the buffalo chicken.  Enjoy!

If you try this method the next time you're in the mood for buffalo wings, let me know how it turns out!  Also, feel free to get creative with sauces and share those ideas in the comments.

You can see ABs' original recipe here: http://altonbrown.com/buffalo-wings/