Buffalo Nuggets

No, this is not a story about calf fries. It's a recipe.

About a year ago, I developed a taste for spicy chicken wings. Actually , I don't like chicken wings - I'm not a big off-the-bone eater - so I got hooked on the Boneless Buffalo Wings at Chili's. Basically, they're chicken nuggets in a spicy sauce.

As you can imagine, the cost of ordering these tasty treats from the restaurant every time I got a hankering for them would be a bit much. So, I hit the internet.

I discovered that "Buffalo Sauce" (named after the city of Buffalo, NY, not the animal), at its base, is nothing more than butter and pepper sauce (i.e. Tabasco). From there, it can be embellished with any number of additives, the most popular being vinegar. So, following is Uncle Bubby's recipe for Buffalo Nuggets.

2 Tbl butter or margarine
2 Tbl pepper sauce
1 Tbl vinegar
1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
1-2 Tbl honey (to taste)

While your nuggets are cooking in the oven, place the above ingredients in a small frying pan and put on LOW heat. Stir frequently to keep from burning or caramelizing anything. Let all the ingredients get happy in the pan and when your mixture begins to bubble, turn off the heat. A couple of minutes before the nuggets are ready, turn the heat on LOW again and let everything warm up. Again, stirring frequently.

When the nuggets are done cooking, pour the warm mixture into a mixing bowl. Place the nuggets into the mixture and stir to coat. You can let them soak a while if you like but make sure they are well coated.

Place nuggets on a plate and serve with ranch or bleu cheese dressing for that spicy/cool effect. Yum!

The above amounts will coat 10-12 nuggets.

I have discovered that if you want more heat, adding another tablespoon of pepper sauce will not give the desired effect. If I want to add a little extra spice, I'll add about 1/2 tablespoon of habanero pepper sauce to the mixture. Obviously, this can be adjusted to suit your tastes but my advice is to go easy with the habanero sauce.