Buffalo wings are made with Frank’s Red Hot (Tabasco is OK in a pinch) and butter. I’m not sure what other places think they’re doing, but Frank’s and lots of butter is the only true way.
Wait, the sauce for patatas bravas is something different, right? IME both in and out of Spain it’s been tomato-based, although it too has a lot of paprika. Of course, I think a lot of Catalonians might look at mayonnaise itself as “bowdlerized alloli” (no garlic? What kind of wimp made that sauce? 
)
This prescriptivist is nearly driven 'round the bend by “shepherd’s pie” that’s made with beef - partly because I hate it when a signifier is corrupted to the point that unnecessary ambiguities creep in, and partly because shepherd’s pie is generally lovely and cottage pie is frequently gross.
I doubt I’ve EVER had an authentic Caesar salad then, even though I have ordered them on many occasions over the decades. Just goes to show you how much the original meaning has drifted/doesnt have anything to do with the original anymore.
Actually, many Buffalonians will argue that Franks and margarine is the true way, although Franks & butter is perhaps more popular.
Ugh, margarine. The bane of Buffalo wings. There are cheap restaurants in Buffalo which do that, it is true, but IME using margarine turns your wings into an oily, gloopy mess.
I love this word! Thank you Buffalonians, for your locanym (or whatever those types of words are called)!
As for the thread - interesting. I wasn’t venting about recipe corruptions or drift, per se, but find the posts entirely worthy and interesting regardless of my intent. I was thinking more about a specific adjustment made to “make the recipe decent for common folk” which was basically the intent of Bowdlerizing books back in the day. e.g.,
Making something with an extreme, central ingredient like “fried spiders” with, say hot dogs instead because folks just don’t eat spiders
My original example: making something that, by definition, is extremely spicey in an intentionally mild version so the common folk can handle it
Taking something where a strong taste - bitter, sour, sweet, whatever - and dialing it way down but claiming it is the same thing…
If folks have examples of these, I would be interested, but the thread can certainly keep going the way it is (as if I had control over that anyway…)
It’s funny, as Buffalo wings are the only place I’ll use margarine in my recipes, because the texture of the sauce is better. Saveur magazine even wrote a piece a few years back called “Wings of Desire” (unfortunately, I can’t find the issue–I think it was April 2006), pointing out that it’s supposed to be Frank’s & margarine, not Frank’s and butter. And that only confirms something I’ve been saying on this board since at least 2002, so it’s not like I just read an article in a popular cooking magazine and decided it must be true.
Anyhow, I don’t really care about the butter/margarine debate, but if you’re going to call “Frank’s & butter” the One True Way, I have to disagree.
The OP reminds me of an article I read years ago describing how much effort Campbell’s put into inventing a non-spicy jalapeno for their “mexican” food line.
Concur. Buffalo wings is Frank’s and margarine. That’s the way the Anchor Bar invented it, and margarine blends better with the sauce. Butter separates and gets oily.
My little peeve: calling anything and everything “Cajun” or “Cajun spiced” just because it has a little bit of cayenne peper in it. Cajun cuisine cannot be reduced to just cayenne pepper. There’s a little more to it than that.
Yes, it has to be “blackened” as well. 
But while we’re on Buffalo Wings (and, yes, I know they’re just “wings” in Buffalo), I don’t mind the minor sauce variations. As long as the base is Franks-type hot sauce (Texas Pete will do, too) and margarine (or butter), I don’t mind if a little garlic or Worcestershire or even a touch of honey is thrown in, so far as it’s not too obvious. What does bug the shit out of me is when restaurants serve something they call “Buffalo wings” and then these wings come out breaded. WTF is that about? The whole point of the wing is the interplay between the crispy skin, the juicy meat, and the unctuous, sharp sauce. The wings don’t need breading! That just dilutes the whole experience. And if you need the breading to make your wings crispy, you ain’t doing it right.
And don’t even get me started on “boneless Buffalo wings.” There’s just way too many layers of wrong in that.
Well, if you accept “blue cheese” as an extreme ingredient for some, I could go on with Buffalo wings. When they’re served with ranch dressing. Ranch dressing. Christ almighty.
AAArrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!! Yes, that exactly. Non-spicy-jalapeno-inventing bastards.
And yeah, **puly **- I can see where dialing back blue cheese to Ranch for wings is the type of Bowdlerizing I was thinking of…
Breading on Buffalo chicken wings…gah. That should be illegal.
Another thing that annoys is the complete pussification of chili that you see so many places.
Well, I guess it doesn’t really bother me when it’s an established regionalism. That’s why I say I’m “not a fan” of anything with barbecue sauce being called barbecue, because in the Midwest, it’s pretty much well-established as an acceptable usage, as is the use of barbecuing to mean grilling. So, as long as I know what rules I’m playing by, I may not like it, but I’ll accept it.
On the other hand, when a restaurant starts calling any dish with any vague resemblance to a dish with a long, established history by the latter’s name, it annoys the crap out of me because I have a set of expectations when I order the dish. When those expectations aren’t met, I’m bound to be disappointed. I mean, tomato sauce with olives isn’t puttanesca. Don’t pretend to be fancy or “authentic” by calling it puttanesca. Call it “tomato sauce with olives” or make up your own name for it.
I really hate it when restaurants replace the spiders in Fried Spiders with hot dogs, you don’t know what’s in those things! There could even be spiders!
Oh yeah, and it’s completely pointless, too. A well-made wing is going to be crispy without breading. Putting breading on a wing suggests you’ve skipped at least one key step.
Er…yeah! I *hate *that!
I believe it’s demonym, “WordMan”. 
Cool! - thanks for that; according to Wikipedia, it can also be a gentilic
Macrobrew beer!