gastrobuddy: Recipe: The Buffalo hot wing burger

one bad biddy

It's been a while since we cranked out a crazy burger - between Christmas, then Dine Out Vancouver, then the yearly gong show that is Valentines day, it's hard to find time to make some really good food simply for the sake of making some really good food. I'd had the inspiration for this burger since fall, but in the end, the wait was worth it. Dan and I would talk about it, the possibilities for toppings, and when we might be able to pull it off. With the extra time put into planning, the final execution was focused, surprisingly technical, and possibly on the verge of lunacy. The wait made it equally delicious.

The central concept was that of a chicken burger with the patty giving representation to all the aspects that make for a great hot wing. Naturally, the fixins were to be all about the sides and extras that accompany a good plate of wings. Considering the shape of a chicken breast and the fact that it was inevitable that this would be a saucy little number, our hoagie shaped ciabatta buns were the best suited for the job.

season the brined breasts

The chicken is where things got pretty crazy. I definitely prefer a chicken breast when making a chicken burger, the size and shape are just the natural choice. Considering that the theme for this burger was wings, part of the deal had to be the chicken skin, and at best, a breast only has skin on one side. To further complicate things, we rarely have any skin on breasts to spare - they are usually all claimed by banquets. Luckily. we do have Activa RM and access to random chicken skin scraps. See where this is going? Visions of Dr. Frankenstein and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs ... scary stuff. I also like when wings have some sort of breading so the sauce has something to stick to, so we needed a coating once we had the skin sorted out. My technique for fried chicken suited me just fine for this and I followed it right down the line with the exception of being able to season the breast after brining, yet before gluing the skin on, then cooking the breast sous vide before the breading (allowing us to focus on the cook on the breading without worrying about the internal cook on the meat). Once all was said and done, we went with good ol' Frank's Hot Sauce over the whole deal - it's a classic and didn't need messing with.

Activa the skin

By comparison, after dealing with the chicken, the bun fixins were comparatively smooth sailing. If you've followed a few of the earlier posts, you are already familiar with the hot and sweet celery slaw and my adventure creating the (eventually) awesome ranch powder. Dan made a delicious creamy Parmesan dressing and we crumbled some lovely Danish Blue cheese on top. Every burger needs greenery, and arugula was the only thing that could possibly compete with all the powerful flavours coming together in this sandwich.

The final result definitely ranks among the best of our burgers with and amazing blend among the spices and the tangs (from multiple sources). Not least of all, the chicken was unbelievable - between brining, seasoning, encasing in skin, the sous vide and finally the ridiculously crisp breading, I don't know if you can have a juicier chicken burger. Here's how it all eventually went down:

The Buffalo Hot Wing Burger:

encase the breast in skin

- bun - ciabatta
- patty - chicken breast - brined and seasoned (see fried chicken recipe)
                                       - encased in chicken skin using Activa RM
   - sous vide 1hr at 63C / 145F
   - breaded (see fried chicken recipe)
                                       - deep fried
- sauces - Frank's Red Hot
               - creamy Parmesan
- greens - arugula
- relish - hot and sweet celery slaw (see hot and sweet celery slaw recipe)
- cheese - Danish Blue
- garnish - ranch powder (see ranch powder recipe)