Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

Ingredients

12 whole, fresh chicken wings (when cut, will make 24 pieces)
3 ounces unsalted butter (6 Tbsp. or 3/4 of a stick)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup hot sauce (recommend Frank's ™ Buffalo Wing Sauce)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Method

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard. Using kitchen shears or a knife, separate the wings at the joint into two pieces. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. (Important to use the cooling rack and refrigerate the full hour as this dries the skin of the wing to get a crispy wing without the frying part).

Preheat the oven to 425° F.

Replace the paper towels on the baking sheet with parchment paper and place the wings either directly onto the parchment or just transfer the rack with the wings if your rack is oven-proof and your prefer. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm with celery and carrot sticks and Blue Cheese Dip (recipe below).

You can tweak the butter/hot sauce ratio to your taste. If you find them a bit too buttery, simply reduce the amount of butter a bit and up the hot sauce a bit or vice versa.

Blue Cheese Dip

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoons dried parsley (or fresh, if you have it)
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Garlic salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving.