Buffalo Chicken Meat Balls with Blue Cheese Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...If your place is the spot folks gather to watch games or celebrate the holidays, I think you might want to have this recipe in your hopper. Those of you who enjoy Buffalo wings will quickly become fans of these easy to make meat balls that come from The Meatball Shop Cookbook. This is a really simple recipe and there is little that could be added to improve it. I do, however, have a caution to share with those of you who will plan to make these gems for the first time. The amount and type of hot sauce you use to make these is really important. If at all possible, use the Frank's Red Hot Sauce that is called for in this recipe. It adds flavor as well as heat. If you have to use a vinegar based hot sauce, watch the amount of it you use. I've made these meat balls using other sauces and found myself breathing fire. I don't mind heat, but I bristle when it kills my taste buds and the vinegar based sauces will do just that. I do hope you will try these. They are very very nice and I think you will enjoy them. Here's the recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Meat Balls with Blue Cheese Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite from the book, THE MEATBALL SHOP COOKBOOK by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow

Ingredients:

Meat Balls

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce or any other favorite hot sauce
1 pound ground chicken, preferably thigh meat
1 large egg
1/2 celery stalk, minced
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt

Sauce

3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup crumbled Blue Cheese
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drizzle vegetable oil into a 9 × 13-inch baking dish and use your hand to evenly coat bottom and sides of pan. Set aside.
2) Combine butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat, whisking until butter is melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.
3) Combine hot sauce mixture, ground chicken, egg, celery, bread crumbs, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
4) Roll mixture into round, 3/4-inch balls, making sure to pack meat firmly. Place balls in prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.
5) Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer inserted into center of a meatball should read 165 degrees F.
6) Allow meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in baking dish before serving.
7) Place sour cream, blue cheese, milk, mayonnaise, salt, and vinegar in a medium bowl and whisk thoroughly until completely combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if desired. Yield: 40 3/4-inch meatballs.

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Buffalo-Style Hot Wings

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...First a little history. For years, chicken wings, along with backs and necks and gizzards, were considered food for the poor or relegated to the stockpot and used to flavor soup. That changed in October of 1964 when Teresa Bellissimo, owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, created a late night snack for her son and his friends. She fried up a bunch of wings and dipped them in a buttery hot sauce before serving them with celery and a blue cheese dressing. Her original recipe can be found here. The wings became an instant hit and thus was history writ. Today the Anchor Bar sells 70,000 thousand pounds of wings a month. Who knew?

There's no way to pretend that these are good for you, so I'll make no attempt to do that. I rarely make Buffalo-style wings because I know how unhealthy they are, but when I do fix them I want the genuine article. I'd rather have them once a year in all their awfulness than have a doctored version of them more frequently. Good or bad, Bob and I find it easier to practice avoidance than to take shortcuts with certain recipes. Dishes that are new to the table comply with all known healthy cooking practices, but I refuse to touch old favorites. Now that you've read my warning label, it's time to move onto the recipe. Please take out your deep fryers. Here's my recipe for Buffalo-style chicken wings.


Buffalo-Style Hot Wings...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite and bars across America

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
20 chicken wing segments
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup hot sauce

Directions:
1) Combine flour, salt, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne and black pepper in a pie plate.
2) Coat each wing segment with seasoned flour and refrigerate for 1 hour. Coat again with seasoned flour.
3) Heat butter and hot sauce in a small sauce until butter melts. Turn heat to lowest possible setting to keep mixture warm.
4) Bring oil in a deep fryer or stovetop equivalent to 375 degrees F. Deep-fry chicken in two or three batches, turning once for about 6 minutes per side. Quickly transfer chicken to a wire rack. Let sit for 30 seconds, then toss in hot sauce. Remove from sauce with a slotted spoon to a warm serving platter. Repeat until all chicken is fried. Serve hot with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing. Yield: 4 servings.

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