Wing Sauce with "Cling"

bitslammer · September 2008

So last night I made a batch of wings and legs. Started with the heavy 30 minute smoke at 250*F and then up to 400*F to the finish with a blast of direct at the end to crisp things up.

While not a huge fan of Hooter's wings I do like their sauce. I like its thickness and ability to really stick well to the wings so I decided to try and make my own. Noting the first ingredient on their sauce is butter I didn't want to go that route.

So here was my route: Texas Pete Buffalo Sauce, a few good dashes of Dave's Roasted Garlic, only 3 tablespoons melted butter, smoked paprika, turmeric (for color) and....Guar Gum to thicken.

I've used roux, corn starch, arrowroot, and many other things but Guar Gum is my go to thickener for cold stuff. It works great and is very forgiving. None of the "clumping" issues some of the other things have. The only trick is to stop before you reach your desire thickness because it keeps working for a while longer and even more when you refrigerate your product.

The results were perfect. A thick rich tangy sauce with a good kick and a "sneak-up" heat factor. The sauce thins a bit when it hits hot wings but still manges to hold on well.

Here's the results:

Dusted and ready to go

The sauce

The end with a little more sauce drizzled over them.

Grillmama · September 2008

They look really good! We also like Hooters sauce and wings, but refuse to spend that kind of money when we can cook and have a few totties at home that are even better!

where do you buy guar gum?

bitslammer · September 2008

Got mine at a local Krogers I think. Look for it in the baking isle. It's most often used in baking. Little bit goes a long way so I've had it for quite a while...like a year or so.

Grillmama · September 2008

Thank you. I will look for it here. If I can't find it I will have my sister-in-law in Atlanta take me to Kroger's when we head up there in a few months.

We have been using the replica of the Anchor Bar receipe, but it has a ton of butter in it. I'm a little worried about the heart and arteries.

Suck Creek Wings · September 2008

Another good method to make sure you get good sauce coverage and thus good flavor is to lightly brush the wings with the sauce while they are still cooking. The sauce will "lock in" to the meat and it will add another level of flavor.

They look great!

UGAVET · September 2008

Has anyone ever eaten wings at wild wings with all the different flavors. seems that they fry them after they have either been marinated or rubbed in the flavor of choice.