I considered myself a Frugal Chef. My wife says I’m just cheap. Nonetheless, I don’t like to overpay when it comes to grocery shopping. I like value for my dollar. Which brings me to chicken wings. I enjoy chicken wings. Sometimes, on a Sunday night, it’s nice to grill or bake a bunch of wings, lace them in hot sauce and wash them down with a cold brewski. But chicken wings are expensive when you think about it. They can set you back two to even three dollars a pound, often costing more than a boneless breast fillet. And when you measure the actual meat you get once the bone and skin are removed, wings can be more costly per pound than a filet mignon!
The reason wings are so pricey is because a chicken only has two of them. Therefore, it takes a whole lot of chickens to supply enough wings for even one game day at Buffalo Wild Wings. When demand for a certain part is high, that part often costs more than it really should. A flank steak is another example.
What, I thought to myself, would be more economical than chicken wings, yet just as tasty and as easy to eat? Chicken legs came to mind. The demand for chicken legs is not high. They are usually dirt cheap, a buck a pound or less and sometimes as low as 69c or 79c a pound. And there is more meat on one of a chicken’s leg than on both of its wings combined. Personally, I don’t mind picking up a chicken leg and gnawing away, but that’s not very attractive when company is around. And for finger food, like a wing, a whole leg is bit much. But how about a piece of a leg, small enough for finger food? Hmmm?
I bought a pack of legs, wielded my filet knife and cut two filets from each leg and seasoned them as I would wings. The result? Buffalo Wild Things. I recommend them. Very tasty, easy to eat and a whole lot less costly per pound than chicken wings. Here’s my recipe using traditional chicken wing seasonings.
Buffalo Wild Things
1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons butter
6 or 8 chicken legs
Heat the oven to 425. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a plastic bag or a bowl. Filet the legs into two sections. If the legs are plump, you can get three filets per leg. Toss the filets, the “chicken things”, in the seasoning. Melt the butter on a piece of non-stick aluminum foil over a cookie sheet in the oven. Spread the butter to coat the foil. Arrange the chicken things on the sheet and bake 20 minutes, then turn and bake an additional 20 minutes. If the wings aren’t hot enough to suit, squirt on a little Texas Pete. That’ll do the trick. Try these Buffalo Chicken Things. I think you’ll like them.