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The Greatest Buffalo Wing Sauce

A spicy sauce made from roasted cayenne peppers, onions, garlic, tomato, vinegar, butter, Louisiana Hot Sauce, lemon juice, honey, and ketchup.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The Greatest Buffalo Wing Sauce

Timeabout 20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Roast and boil the peppers

  1. Roast the cayenne peppers in a pan over medium-high flame, tossing them for a couple of minutes, ensuring they do not burn.

  2. Add enough water to cover the peppers and bring to a boil; let cook for ten minutes.

  3. Drain the water and place the peppers in a blender. Add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup vinegar, and salt; blend on high and allow to percolate.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium flame, then add onion, garlic, tomato, and the whole bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

  2. Cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

  3. Immediately pour the mixture into the blender and add the percolated cayenne pepper sauce.

  4. Blend on high for two minutes.

Finish and simmer

  1. Add the lemon juice, honey, and ketchup, and blend again for a few seconds.

  2. Pour back into the pan where the butter was melted, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

271Calories
4 gProtein
13 gFat
41 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cayenne peppers
Provide the main heat and pepper flavor of the sauce.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounder, smoother mouthfeel and carries flavor.
Louisiana hot sauce
Supplies most of the liquid base and a classic vinegar-pepper flavor.
Ketchup
Adds sweetness and body, rounding out the heat.
Honey
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar and heat.

The step that matters

Roasting the cayenne peppers. Tossing them over medium-high heat for only a couple of minutes gives flavor, but scorching them turns the sauce bitter and acrid. Watch closely and keep them moving so they toast without burning.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, vinegar, butter, sauce):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Mangofits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, vinegar, butter, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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