Last summer, I got an internship within the tech department of a bank. As a part of my job, I had to make a couple of business trips to Buffalo, New York. When I found out about my travels, there was one thought on my mind: I have to try some buffalo wings.
I actually found it quite difficult to find a restaurant that sold buffalo wings on their menu. But when I did, it was like finding the X on a treasure map. Buffalo sauce from Buffalo provides a certain heat to it. There is a more noticeable tang in the chicken wings, as if new tastes have been unlocked. It’s a delightful taste sensation that I recommend to anyone that may be visiting the Buffalo area anytime soon.
My true revelation of my love for buffalo sauce came a day prior to this, however. In my failed quest for buffalo wings for the day, I settled for a restaurant that sold burgers. The waiter brought the table a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo sauce with our food, and I was intrigued. I had always associated buffalo sauce with chicken, do I dare venture to put it on beef? Taking that leap of faith opened me up to the world of buffalo sauce. It added a very savory taste to the burger, an extra juice to the flavor. I was hooked on the sauce from that moment going forward.
There are many versions of the origin story of buffalo wings, but most of them set the origin of buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar, a family owned restaurant in Buffalo. Teressa Bellissimo, a co-founder of the restaurant, used her special sauce on the chicken wings with sides of celery and blue cheese. Some versions of the story state that Teressa was just trying to make the best that she could with an unexpected extra shipment of chicken wings to the establishment. Other versions claim that her son was looking for a midnight snack with his friends and she used some extra chicken wings to put her sauce on.
While the origin of buffalo sauce will never be completely clear, each version of the story embodies an accurate representation of my feelings towards buffalo sauce. If people can have comfort foods, then I think it is fair to call buffalo sauce a comfort condiment. You probably won’t go to a 5-star restaurant and order a plate of buffalo wings, but you may very well do so at a bar hanging out with your friends and family. Buffalo sauce is something you can get creative with. I never would have known how good it is on a burger until I tried it, nor how it could be as a dipping sauce for a chip. When my internship was over, I found a bottle of the original Anchor Bar buffalo sauce sold within one of the airport gift shops. I purchased as many bottles as I could fit in my bags and began my adventure of putting that sauce on everything. So far, I have found that the creative possibilities with buffalo sauce are endless.
Wanna get Creative? Try out some of these buffalo recipes on Spoon:
Buffalo-Style Cauliflower:
https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/this-buffalo-style-cauliflower-recipe-is-a-healthy-game-day-snack
Mini Buffalo Chicken Pies:
https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/how-to-make-mini-buffalo-chicken-pies
Buffalo Dip:
https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/gameday-best-damn-buffalo-chicken-dip
All facts used in this article were taken from: https://time.com/3957370/buffalo-wings/