April 24, 2021

                It’s the weekend… Yea!  The beginning of my weekend is my favorite part because I have weekends off, except for cooking. (Unless we go out to eat.) That’s okay though, because I love cooking.

                Last night I suggested boneless Buffalo wings and Jennifer quickly agreed. I asked her to text our friend Alyssa to see if she would like to join us but my lovely wife was already texting away. I know Alyssa likes my boneless wings, so we didn’t want her to miss out. Alyssa confirmed with Jennifer, saying she would be here about 7-ish.

                Perfect! I thought. After the timing was confirmed and opened a beer and started cooking. I know what you must be thinking about my cooking and beer related activity, but I do not always drink beer while I cook. Sometimes its wine if my wine drinking friends are over. Sometimes its lemonade and vodka if its a particularly hot summer day. Look, it’s a blog by the Drunken Chef what do you expect? Mr. Rogers? No just me, no servants, no sous chefs. No dishwashers. Well I do have a dishwasher but no one rising the dishes or washing the pots. I am usually just the one to wash the dishes and rinse the pots, I am really quite multifaceted, being dishwasher, sous-chef and head chef all in one! This is, of course, a very wordy way to say that whatever mess I make, I have to clean-up.

                Completely off-topic: I get a few questions about how did I get this nickname? The Drunken Chef. Well, I think it was a co-worker that started calling me The  Drunken Chef after one of my many summertime BBQ adventures where I had the entire department attending in my back yard. After all the stories that they heard, they were there to see and taste my culinary skills in person.

                Back to last night: I preheated the oven to keep the wings warm once they were done. After-all, what goes better with beer than bar food – particularly wings? Most of the important people in my life prefer their wings to be boneless, but I adapted this style especially for Jennifer. I start with chicken cutlets that I cut into 1 to 1 ½ inch strips. Those strips get tossed into some beaten eggs followed by a wonderful flour mixture with some spices that I added breadcrumbs too. Sometimes (when I not so lazy) I flour them and then dip the back into the egg and then the breadcrumbs. I find it gives the chicken that extra crunch, which just elevates them to a whole new level.

                Next, as the oil heated, I cut celery and carrots into strips or sticks 1/2 inch wide. You have to have vegetables with dinner!

                When frying anything it is important to watch the temperature of your oil and how fast it’s cooking. Too hot and to fast, it burns, too slow and it tastes like oil. By learning to make potato pancakes that all come out the same golden brown, on both sides, (not hiding the burnt ones face down) is an excellent way to learn how to control the temperature and cooking time on your stove. Figuring out how to cook bacon will have a similar effect. Who doesn’t love bacon? Many times, I make it in the microwave, but when I want the bacon grease for something else like a spinach salad, I make it in a pan on the stove. That takes time and patience not to burn it. If you like crispy bacon that is. Those kinds of skills are best taught in a video if anyone is interested recording me in my kitchen and editing and so on and so on. There is a free meal in for you…just sayin.

                Well the wings came out good. I also made my famous buffalo wing sauce, and no it’s not just butter and Frank’s Red Hot but those are just two of the ingredients. Patients people…. The recipes are coming. Sure, even this one, with my famous sauce included.

                ENJOY your Saturday! THE DRUNKEN CHEF

April 24, 2021

© Russ Ahrens and The Magic of a Perfect Pairing,2021