The Sauce

Choosing a hot sauce for wings is a crucial step in the hot wing making process to make sure everyone can enjoy. A few things to take into consideration are heat level, flavor of sauce, and thickness. 

Vinegar and more acidic sauces tend to make for a Buffalo-style sauce, tangy and rich. Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder for a more authentic Buffalo flavor.

Adding a couple tablespoons of brown mustard to a honey-based hot sauce makes for an amazing honey-mustard sauce.

Fruity sauces work really well with apple cider vinegar instead of the white wine, it will bring the fruit flavors forward and help cut through the fat of the sauce.

You will find that even the hottest sauce is tempered quite a bit when you cut it with oodles of delicious butter.

To make the sauce sauce for these wings you will need:

• 1/3c (about 1/2 a bottle) PexPeppers 7 Pot Panic (Other good choices would be 2 The Moon, HornetBOMB, or Atom Splitter)
• 1/2c (or more, for a milder and creamier sauce) cold butter, cut into small pieces
• For thicker sauces, add 2 Tablespoons white wine, or apple cider vinegar.

Directions:

1. Combine everything except the butter in a saucepan.
2. Add a couple pieces of the butter to start.
3. Heat over medium-low heat until the butter just starts to melt
4. Reduce the heat to low, and whisk constantly, adding another tablespoon cold butter anytime the previous piece is melted in
5. When you add the last piece, turn the heat off, continue whisking until it's almost gone.
6. pour into a heat-proof bowl, and keep warm for saucing wing

The Wings

Now that we've got our wing sauce made, let's move onto the wings themselves.

•  3lbs chicken wings, or more, cause are there ever enough wings? (I did 10lbs tonight I think)
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions:

1. Combine dry wings with brine ingredients and toss, let rest at least 4 hours.
2. Smoke (I use a pellet smoker) at 250-275F for 1.5-2 hours or until about 165-175F internal temperature, should be shiny and moist, with a tough skin
3. Heat some frying oil (canola, peanut, lard) in a large pot, no more than halfway full, to 375F
4. Fry wings in small batches, 2-3 minutes until the skin is dark, bubbled, and crispy.
5. Transfer the wings from the fryer to some paper towels just to catch extra oil.
6. Add a single serving of wings at a time to a medium metal bowl, ladle sauce over them, and then toss quickly to coat
7. Eat hot, and enjoy