Jon's first hot sauce was trying to copy that sauce. He came up with what we call Hector's Exorcism Sauce. It's not quite the same... but it's very close! Since he started making sauce... I needed to learn how to make great chicken wings for the sauce! It took me a while to get it right. But I've finally figured out what works best for us.
FIRST is chicken wings that are fresh and have never been frozen. They get so much crispier that way and the texture is really great! I can get fresh, never frozen wings at Whole Foods.
NEXT and this is just a personal preference, I like split wings. I've learned that I need a GREAT deal more practice to split them myself. Plus, Jon prefers the drummette part and I prefer the flat part. So split wings are best. Again... Whole Foods is great for this, because if they only have whole wings out, they'll split them for me!
Now that we have the actual chicken purchased...
Throw it into a big bowl... and dry it all off with a kitchen towel. Try to get all the moisture off of the surface of the chicken.
So now your chicken is dry, you need to preheat your oil.
Bring it up to 350F.
When your oil is hot, season your chicken wings with seasoned salt & pepper.
Gently add some chicken wings to your hot oil, being careful not to crowd the pot.
Watch your oil temp. It will drop when you add the chicken... but you want it to come back up to around 350F... but also, not to get too hot.
Cook chicken wings until golden, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels/bags or on a wire rack. (I just use a wire rack now, but this is an old pic)
These are totally ready to eat now! Or you can put them in a container with a lid and shake them with wing sauce!!
What? No wing sauce recipe?? Well... keep reading!
Ok... first up... Hector's Exorcism Sauce! If you like "melt your face off" hot wings... this is the sauce for you! We don't like hot just for the sake of hot... it needs to be tasty too. This sauce gives you both HOT and TASTY!
First... and I can't state this strongly enough...
WARNING!! When working with habaneros, be sure to wash hands thoroughly and/or wear rubber gloves before touching eyes or any sensitive body parts!! Also beware of VERY STRONG fumes from saucepan (on the stove or in the sink). They will burn your eyes & lungs!
Ok... you've been warned!
Here's what you need for the first sauce.
Hector's Exorcism Sauce
1 C Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce
18 habanero peppers, chopped fine
6 chipotle peppers, chopped fine
3 Tbls garlic, minced
1/2 C butter
1/4 C honey
1/4 C vinegar
1 Tbls dry mustard
1 Tbls cumin
1 Tbls chili powder
1 heaping Tbls tomato paste
salt to taste
Melt butter in a sauce pan.
Combine peppers, garlic, some of the Frank's and vinegar in food processor and combine until smooth.
Add pepper mixture to melted butter and stir.
Add remaining ingredients to the sauce pan.
Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
Toss with fried chicken wings and enjoy!
That sauce is WICKED hot! If you like it mild... leave out all of the peppers and cut the garlic down to 1 Tbls. That's a wicked tasty mild wing sauce!!
Ok... next up is my favorite sauce!
Hector's Curry Habanero Sauce
six dried chipotles
one head garlic
1/2 cup butter, divided
4 habaneros
1 cup Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
big splash of tequila
Boil some water, then turn it to low and add the chipotles, cover and let sit for about 45 min.
Meanwhile, get your head of garlic and mince it all.
Once the chipotles are soft, saute the garlic in a saucepan with a tablespoon of the butter until it turns brown.
Deglaze with saucepan with a big splash of tequila, and turn the heat to low. Put in the rest of the butter and let it melt.
Meanwhile, chop up all the peppers.
Add the peppers, honey, Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce, mustard and spices, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Toss with fried chicken wings!
I LOVE this hot sticky sweet curry sauce!
We didn't quite have the ingredients to make that sauce last time. So Jon tweaked it with what we had on hand.
Chipotle Habanero Sauce w/Adobo
six chipotles in adobo sauce
1 heaping TBLS adobo sauce
one head garlic
1/2 cup butter, divided
4 habaneros
1 cup Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
big splash of Jim Beam Bourbon
Get your head of garlic and mince it all.
Saute the garlic in a saucepan with a tablespoon of the butter until it turns brown.
Deglaze with saucepan with a big splash of Jim Beam, and turn the heat to low. Put in the rest of the butter and let it melt.
Meanwhile, chop up all the peppers.
Add the peppers, adobo sauce, honey, Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce, mustard and spices, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Toss with fried chicken wings!
Ok... so right about now... you're mouth should be completely on fire! You've taken a BIG sip of your beer, soda, water... whatever you could grab to get some relief. But it's not working!!! What to do? Well... the heat in hot peppers comes from capsaicin. Most beverages won't help. You need to have dairy to get some relief. There's a protein in dairy that breaks down the capsaicin and cools your palette! So don't reach for a beer... grab a glass of milk... or a shot of whipped cream (go ahead, you shoot it directly into your mouth... I won't tell) or some ice cream... that's really cold and gives double relief! We usually have a nice creamy dairy based dip. I typically don't like bleu cheese dips... but the one they serve at MadMex is great! We were telling the bartender how much we liked it and he said it's just bleu cheese, ranch dressing and Frank's. So after playing around with the amounts, we came up with a dip we love!
Bleu Cheese Dip
1 C ranch dressing
2/3 C bleu cheese, crumbled
1 TBLS Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce
Combine all ingredients! That's it!
Wings, Wing Sauces & Dip!
Are you ready for some football????!!!!!!
Some great hot sauces here. Thanks for linking it in to Food on Friday. Chers
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