The Anchor Bar’s suicide wings aren’t all that hot. They’re just the regular hot wings doused in black pepper.
Bleh, that sounds terrible.
I make my own wings with this sauce, which is pretty good. It isn’t as hot as the hot sauce they make (I use that in my chili), but it is tasty. Plus it comes with a tiny rubber chicken.
edit: oh, and I like my steak done Philadelphia rare, though I never knew that was the name for it. I don’t feel better than anybody cause I like hot stuff and my steak rare, and I feel sorry for those who have to get their ego filled from that.
They’re…different. I actually don’t think they’re that bad, but after about two or three, the pepper becomes overwhelming. Not as in overwhelmingly spicy, just way too much pepper.
Looks yummy, but I’m a Frank’s kind of guy.
Franks! That’s when it becomes an immediate turn-off! I can’t stand Frank’s on my wings. It’s so… generic. That’s what restaurants do when they have no passion for their wings. You had me going good there for a bit.
Non-scientific opinion here, I’ve had my steaks from Rare is all the way down the spectrum to Well in many different configurations (You don’t think those steaks that you Nancy’s send back or won’t eat for piddlins actually get thrown away, do you? Starving College Students/Servers will eat anything.). The thing that I’ve found is that I actually prefer my steak in the medium to well range, because of both flavor and texture. I find a well cooked steak has a much more robust and developed flavor and the texture isn’t as bland. Which I suppose has to do with my preference for bold flavors and something to sink my teeth into. All I’ve ever gotten from a rare steak is a rather watery, salty, and slightly metallic taste with a bland and rather amorphous, chewy textuire, akin to well, eating raw meat. Not as enjoyable to my taste as say, a nice Medium Well NY strip. I’ve never seemed to have a problem with it lacking juicieness, either…what kind of skill does it take to make a juicy rare steak? I say the real mettle of a grill chef is to make a juicy and flavorful Mid to well steak, and yes, it is possible.
I do like my duck breasts MR and I do like ground meat occasiionally on the raw to MR side (Mettwurst (raw ground pork sausage), Hamburgers.). Sushi doesn’t bother me… I’m just about flavor and textures and a I submit that Rare folk are pretentious and boring eaters.
Sorry, bud, but you’re way off here. Frank’s pretty much defines Buffalo wings. Frank’s and margarine is all you need for a true Buffalo flavor. Lack of passion is a complaint leveled at those place who don’t know how to fry their wings properly or leave them sitting around (BW3, I’m looking straight at you, how I hate your wings), or serve scrawny wings. Good wings are easy to make and, frankly (no pun intended) it’s not in the sauce. A good wing is defined by the care taken in picking the right sized wings and correctly preparing them. The sauce need not be fancy.
I should be a little more specific. A Buffalo wing sauce should pretty much be a cayenne pepper sauce of some type (usually, Frank’s/Durkee’s, Texas Pete’s, or something of that flavor signature) and margarine (although butter is acceptable, margarine is the preferred fat in Buffalo). I’m a purist when it comes to these things. Saying this combo is generic is like complaining a Philly cheesesteak is generic because it’s just beef, Whiz/provolone, and /or onions. There’s no lack of passion there. Why mess with a tried and true standard?
Despite the fact that wings are so amazingly easy to make, I am astounded by how difficult it is to find somebody who knows what the hell they’re doing.
Yes, but as you dehydrate the meat you are also enhancing and concentrating the flavors, as well. Maybe redistributing the juices to the core, as well.
A little trick that I picked up in the food biz is “kosher salt marinating” beef tenderloin. It’s a kind of a moist curing process. The tenderloin cuts like butter and the flavor is fantastic, and it’s not dried out either, it remains juicy after 48 hours encased in a bed of kosher salt, oil, and various other ingredients.
That’s not fair. Other than here in this thread, I don’t go around bragging to people that I prefer my steaks rare, or demeaning them for ordering beyond it. Where’s the pretense?
Rather than talent, though, I’d say that a lot of it has to do with the cut of beef. Don’t laugh – I’m a big fan of the ribeyes I get at (of all places) Sam’s Club. On the rare cases they pass to medium, they’re still juicy and flavorful (just not – to me – as flavorful as medium rare or rare). On the other hand I recall quite clearly a very disappointing experience ordering a rare ribeye at a local riverside restaurant. Man, it was beautiful, and the chef cooked it absolutely perfectly. Temperature/doneness was to my expectations, but man! what a crappy steak. I can’t fault technique – while steak au poivre is excellent, all you need for a ribeye is salt and heat. The only variable is the meat quality (and trust me, I hesitate to equate anything from the Wal-Mart empire with quality).
I don’t know Texas Pete’s, but Frank’s and Durkee’s taste like vinegar to me without any chile flavor – that’s my beef with Frank’s. It has a bit of heat, but no flavor to back it up. Runny. Of course lots of BW3’s sauces are foo-foo sauces laden with sugar and thickeners, and I don’t eat those (yuck!). And there are definitely better sauces than their “Wild” in the world, but at least their Wild has flavor to it besides vinegar and heat. In any case, I won’t try to argue that they’re better or worse than the original. 
You’re right – at times at BW3’s I get wings that have been sitting around. It’s obvious when they toss fresh sauce on them and try to pass off dessicated wings as fresh. Waitress always understands when we send 'em back and let 'er know we’ll wait for fresh.
That’s perfectly fine. However, the vinegary mustard-gas-like acidity of Buffalo-style wings is pretty much essential to the style. I was just defending the Buffalo style of hot wing. You’re more than welcome to make it any way you want to, I just objected to the use of Frank’s as a sign of laziness–it’s not–the vinegary spiciness is just essential to one particular well-regarded style of hot wing, so if folks are using Frank’s or Texas Pete’s or whatever, it’s because they want to make a true Buffalo wing, not something else.
Re: Rare steak eaters are boring and pretentious
I posit that well done steak eaters are boring and lacking adventure. Mostly likely they swill down their steak with some watered down excuse for a beer and rarely order anything different in their small, pathetic lives. No risk, narrow minded automatons that get the same thing every time because “they know what they like” and are too afraid to order something new or go to an ethnic restaurant and try a new experience.
That’s interesting and enlightening – honestly. The next time I order wings and they end up being Frank’s, I will honestly try to think back to this exchange and understand that they’re shooting for authenticity rather than being non-creative. Maybe it will change my mind about Frank’s for Buffalo wings, if not for Frank’s in general (I’ll admit I like those weak salsas on my scrambled eggs quite a bit!).
I think you’re on to something here. Ribeye steaks are tricky because the lean inner eye tends to cook faster than the fatty outer layer. I think that’s why Prime Rib cuts a nice balance by keeping the inside moist. However, a strip, porterhouse or T-bone will tend to cook a little more evenly, and takes rare cooking better. The flavor and texture profiles will differ as well since strip tends to be tougher and more flavorful (and therefore more suited for rare cooking) than ribeye.
Just a data point, but I was head grill cook in an upscale steak house for six years, and I never learned the temperature method you speak of.
Thousands of steaks cooked with a handful of sendbacks and a regular stream of tips, but if I got a order for 90 degrees, (and I never did) I’d send the waiter back out for the actual description (assuming someone was not sure of what rare and medium rare are).
And you tell how done it is by the firmness of the steak, adjusted for the cut and size. Its been years since I did that job, and I have since lost a lot of the skill. Now, if it’s just for me, and I’m feeling particular about how it comes out, I’ll slice into it when it’s getting close.
I admit, I was surprised to find out how pungent wings in Buffalo generally are, and the truth is that when I make them for myself, while I do still base them on Frank’s, I counteract some of the acidity by adding in some honey, and I will occassionally also add fresh garlic and mustard for flavor.
Ok, I take it back.
Rare Steak folk aren’t boring, they’re just pretentious.
Just kidding!
No, really it’s a bit tongue in cheek and I don’t mean to offend, it’s just that I’m still on the defensive from the straight Dope classic thread:
Ordering a well-done steak: Unsophisticated?
Filet mignon steaks are one of the most expensive cuts of steak just due to how small the cut is overall from a given cow but that is about all the have going for them. The are actually subtly shunned among aficionados although no one says they are terrible.
My wife is in the national gourmet foods industry although her specialty is not beef. Still, we have years of gourmet foods magazines laying around as well as exposure to people who do select the absolute best meats available. Industry newsletters and magazines often have articles such as “What steak does your butcher order for himself?” or something similar. I don’t think I have ever seen filet mignon cuts selected for anything. It is always one of the fattier cuts and well distributed fat (in ways that you can’t even see) is almost always considered to be the hallmark of a great steak. Filet mignon steaks don’t really have that as a trait and they are really rather dull and boring when it comes to overall flavor.
Witness that they’re always adorned with something else. In a previous post I mentioned steak a poivre and ribeye. Ribeye = salt, the tenderloin au poivre needs olive oil, pepper, cream, brandy, butter. How else do we serve the tenderloin? Wrapped in slice of bacon. Or stuffed with something like blue cheese and spinach. I’m not disparaging any of these, and I’m quite excellent at making all of them! But… the tenderloin just doesn’t stand well on its own.
How can this thread exist in GQ?
I hope you realize I was only saying those things because of your comment and not that I really believe them. I’m just glad you don’t really believe all rare steak eaters are boring and pretentious. They come in all stripes, rare or well done.