Saturday 5 September 2009

Wing Master: X-Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

On one of my parents travels to the United States early this year, they were very kind to bring me back a bottle of hot sauce for wings. Ya, they know me.



I had not heard of Wing Master before as it is not a brand found in my local supermarket. Of course that doesn't mean one couldn't find it in a hot sauce specialty store. For now, it was an exciting import.

The bottle has sat on my shelf for a few months, waiting for the opportune time to sample. Tonight was that time.


The sauce is made by Pepper Palace, which is based out of Gatlinburg, Tennessee (Hey Chris, that's not too far from you!). I don't think this is where my parents picked it up though, but I think they picked it up in Florida (I don't quite remember). But hey, what a logo. They mean business.


What endured me to the sauce was the cute photoshop of the buffalo head on a chicken. But one glance at the ingredient list and you know it's not really a Buffalo sauce.


The sauce has a very interesting ingredient listing. First thing is hot sauce. This seems a little redundant, but they put in a hot sauce first into their sauce. This seems like some sort of time/paradox dealie that I'm not ready to get into. There are lots of peppers/spices (cayenne, habanero, red chile peppers and spices . . . ooh spices). Water is halfway on the list, which you know will make this both hot and thick.




Well it may not be a Buffalo sauce, but it looked like a quality hot sauce. But don't be mistaken, these are meant to be for wings. Not added to ribs or pasta or anything else. This is a chicken wing sauce, so I made wings in which to sample them.






The sauce is a very dark red, with flecks of what looks like pepper or some other spice. I knew it would have a 'dark' flavour just by the look of it. Yes I describe flavours with colour.


The smell was a mix of garlic and butter and spice heat. The nostrils didn't flare from the spice, but I was aware of it. The garlic/butter smell was not the most appealing smell from a bottle as I would hope. When I make homemade Buffalo sauce, and refrigerate the leftover sauce, the smell of the congealed butter and vinegar and cayenne sauce makes the same kind of smell.



I dusted my wings in flour/cornstarch, deep fried, then immediately tossed with 1/3 of my bottle of sauce. The dusting gave the sauce something to cling to. This sauce was made for wings.



The first taste of the sauce presented a lot of flavours; I could taste the butter flavour, the garlic, the spices. The heat was there from the start - it didn't overpower the flavour or knock me down in heat, but it never let me forget it was there either.



FINAL SCORE: This is a good hot sauce for wings. Not only does it have a lot of flavour but it also has some heat. I would label it as 'hot' rather than x-hot, but hey, that is me. I enjoyed my wings, but it isn't a sauce I would want to have on a regular basis. But hey, the wings were skinned and the bowl was licked clean. Thanks mom & dad. 3.5/6.




Wing Master: X-Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

2 comments:

Teena in Toronto said...

Ha! That mutant chicken is hilarious!

Chris said...

Love the Buffachicken logo:)

My mouth is watering. Not sure if it's food lust or the heat.

Yeah Gatlinburg is just a stone's throw from us. I should go shake them down for a case:)