With the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs set to meet in the Super Bowl on Sunday, here’s a head start to help plan your party.
And though you might not be planning to have your eyes glued to the television for four hours, you may be planning a party or attending one, and still want to bring a Super dish.
I find it interesting that people, including my mom and dad, attend a party where dad watches the game, while mom mostly indulges in the food and catches up with her friends. Don’t get me wrong, dad will eat too!
Super Bowl Sunday is the second-biggest eating day of the year; it is only surpassed by Thanksgiving. And what has become the popular dish of that day … the humble-yet-mighty chicken wing.
According to the National Chicken Council’s 2024 Wing Report, https://bit.ly/3PKwCgp, 1.45 billion wings were eaten during last year’s celebrations. Will the consumption of wings for Super Bowl LIX surpass last year? Teressa Bellissimo and her family founded the Anchor Bar in 1939 in Buffalo, N.Y., where Buffalo wings were invented in 1964. There are several tales as to its origins.
The Aug. 25, 1980, edition of The New Yorker magazine shares a story of the history of chicken wings.
The owner of the Anchor Bar told food writer Calvin Trillin: “Teressa Bellissimo came up with the recipe when a case of chicken wings was delivered instead of chicken backs and necks she used to make spaghetti sauce. Frank, Teressa’s husband, thought it was a shame to use the wings for sauce so his wife was given the task to make some hors d’oeuvres for the bar.”
Voila … the Buffalo chicken wing was invented.
There is no definitive answer as to why wings, aka Buffalo wings, are served with a celery stick with blue cheese dressing.
According to an online article in Time by Claire Suddath: “The wings were the brainchild of Teressa Bellissimo, who covered them in her own special sauce, and served them with a side of blue cheese plus celery, because that’s what she had available.”
The celery and dressing do cool off the palate from the heat of the hot sauce.
According to another tale, Dominic, the Bellissimos’ son, had several friends visit the bar, and Teressa, wanted to feed them an easy to make snack, so she fried the wings and tossed them in hot sauce. They were a big hit; thus, her newfound wings recipe became a regular menu item.
For some unknown reason, there is a connection between wings and the Super Bowl. Perhaps it is because it is a fun food to eat while cheering on your favorite team.
Wings can be prepared many ways — deep-fried, baked, grilled, sautéed and growing in popularity, smoked. The sky is the limit as to the flavors from the traditional buffalo sauce to parmesan coated, teriyaki and yes, chocolate sauce … think mole.
According to the National Chicken Council: “Cooking the whole bird was trendy in the 1960s and 1970s, but in the 1980s, U.S. consumers started preferring boneless-skinless breast meat, and wings became an inexpensive byproduct for chicken producers. Restaurants and bars realized they could charge low prices for the relatively inexpensive protein, and due to the spicy/ salty nature of the sauce, they discovered that beer sales would go through the roof when customers ate wings.”
Research by the council shows:
• Americans are more likely to prefer eating bone-in, traditional wings (53%) than boneless wings.
• While there are a variety of wing sauces to choose from, BBQ (52%), ranch (46%) and buffalo/hot sauce (41%) are the preferred.
• French fries are by far the preferred side for wings (72%), distantly followed by celery (14%)If you want to take your chicken wings to a new gourmet height, check out “Wings: 75 Tasty Recipes for Fried, Baked & Frilled Chicken” by Carol Hilker (2024, Ryland Peters & Small, $14.99) Naturally, the classics are included, along with how wings are prepared by different cultures, recipes following new trends and wings that are light and aromatic.
The chapter on sauces and dips will get your taste buds tingling. Now let’s get prepared for the big game part with these recipes from the book.
?BROWN BUTTER & ROASTED RED PEPPER WINGS
The headnote says, “The addition of spicy roasted red pepper creates deliciously savory and slightly sweet chicken wings.”
Serves 4—6
INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds chicken wings, halved at the joints, tips removed
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup roasted red (bell) pepper, chopped
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1½ tablespoons garlic powder
1½ tablespoons chili powder
1½ tablespoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons onion powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Roasted Red Pepper-Paprika Cream
Sauce to serve (recipe below)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Line 2—3 baking sheets with foil.
Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan over a medium-high heat until the butter browns but does not burn.
Reduce the heat to low-medium and add the red (bell) pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and onion powder. Season to taste with kosher salt and ground black pepper and mix well.
Remove the pan from the heat. Add half the chicken wings to the pan, stir to coat with the butter mixture, then leave to infuse for about 5 minutes.
Transfer the infused wings to a prepared baking sheet, then infuse the remaining wings and add them to another prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, turning them halfway through, until the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced to the bone.
Serve with the Roasted Red Pepper-Paprika Cream Sauce
ROASTED RED PEPPER- PAPRIKA CREAM SAUCE
Serves 4—6
INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup roasted red (bell) pepper, chopped
¼ cup goat cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Mix all the ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined and smooth.
Refrigerate until ready to serve..
?BROWN BUTTER & ROASTED RED PEPPER WINGS
The headnote says, “The addition of spicy roasted red pepper creates deliciously savory and slightly sweet chicken wings.”
Serves 4—6
INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds chicken wings, halved at the joints, tips removed
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup roasted red (bell) pepper, chopped
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1½ tablespoons garlic powder
1½ tablespoons chili powder
1½ tablespoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons onion powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Roasted Red Pepper-Paprika Cream Sauce to serve (recipe below)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Line
2—3 baking sheets with foil.
Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan over a medium-high heat until the butter browns but does not burn.
Reduce the heat to low-medium and add the red (bell) pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and onion powder. Season to taste with kosher salt and ground black pepper and mix well.
Remove the pan from the heat. Add half the chicken wings to the pan, stir to coat with the butter mixture, then leave to infuse for about 5 minutes.
Transfer the infused wings to a prepared baking sheet, then infuse the remaining wings and add them to another prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, turning them halfway through, until the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced to the bone.
Serve with the Roasted Red Pepper-Paprika Cream Sauce
ROASTED RED PEPPER- PAPRIKA CREAM SAUCE
Serves 4—6
INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup roasted red (bell) pepper, chopped
¼ cup goat cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
Mix all the ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined and smooth.
Refrigerate until ready to serve..
? BONELESS BAKED CHICKEN FILLETS
The headnote says: “This is for those who don’t like to deal with chicken bones — or those of you who eat pizza with a knife and fork! These ‘wings’ are bone-free, baked until crispy and served with a honey-chipotle sauce, although almost any sauce and marinade from this book would work well.”
Serves 4 —6
INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds chicken tenders
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, melted
¾ cup hot pepper sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
Honey-Chipotle Dipping Sauce to serve (recipe below)
DIRECTIONS:
Line 2—3 baking sheets with foil, and lightly grease with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
Put the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic and salt in a resealable plastic bag and shake to mix. Add the chicken, seal the bag and toss until well coated with the flour mixture. Place the chicken on the lined baking sheets. Cover loosely with cling film/plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk together the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. Dip the chicken into the butter mixture, then place back on the baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 25—30 minutes, until the chicken is crispy on the outside and the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced to the bone. Turn the wings over halfway during cooking so they cook evenly.
Serve with Honey-Chipotle Dipping Sauce.
HONEY-CHIPOTLE DIPPING SAUCE
Serves 4 —6
INGREDIENTS:
1¼ cups runny honey
½ cup tomato ketchup
1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon ground chipotle chili powder
¾ teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan with ½ cup water and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat. Reduce the heat once the mixture comes to the boil and let simmer for 3—5 minutes.