How to Cook Buffalo Wings

The last thing I want to do if there's a party happening and a major game on the television is man the deep-fryer back in the kitchen. But you can't have a Game Day party without buffalo chicken wings on the buffet table — inconceivable. The solution, obviously, is to turn to the next best thing: the oven. Doused in a double dose of hot sauce — first to marinate and then to coat — these oven-baked wings are arguably just as crispy, just as sticky, and just as addictive as their deep-fried brethren. Here's how to make a batch for yourself; you only need four ingredients! (Not including the blue cheese and celery!)

Get this all-star, easy-to-follow Buffalo Wings recipe from Alton Brown

Two key steps ensure extra-crisp wings: letting them sit at room temperature evens the cooking time, and the cornstarch dredge transforms into a crunchy shell when fried. If you like your wing sauce super spicy, increase the amount of cayenne.

In honor of the Super Bowl this coming weekend--it might as well be nicknamed the Buffalo Wingathon--I figured it was my duty to Epicurious readers to test which method of cooking makes the best Buffalo wings. To be fair, I purposely did the test in my own home kitchen to get the full effect of each technique. I'm not blessed with miles of counter space, good ventilation, nor a human dishwasher manning the sink--home cooking conditions don't get more realistic than this. The original Buffalo wings, as we all know by now, were fried without any coating or batter and then tossed in a mixture of melted butter and Frank's RedHot Original Red Hot Sauce. On the Frank's RedHot website, their current recipe calls for baking the wings at high heat. Alternate Cooking Directions list deep-frying, broiling, or grilling. I'm grill-challenged in my apartment, so I fried, baked, and broiled the chicken wings to arrive at the pros and cons of each method. Read on for the results. BAKING: Frank's recommends baking the wings at 500°F. for 20 to 25 minutes on a foiled-lined rimmed baking sheet, turning them once. Pro: The skin gets pretty crisp. Cons: -I hate to crank up my oven to 500°F. It makes the whole kitchen too hot and I feel like I'll singe my eyebrows when I open the oven door. -The skin sticks easily to the foil--even if you toss the wings with some oil first--which means you have to peel the wings from the foil very carefully. -You risk overcooking the wings to get them golden (I did). BETTER BAKING: I remembered that Kelly Senyei, a former colleague at Epicurious, is a fan of baked wings, and on her website, Justataste, she advocates baking them on a rack set over a rimmed baking sheet at 400°F. I split the difference between Frank's and Kelly's and set the oven at 450°F. Tossing your wings with a little oil and some salt first is essential. I used 2 tablespoons oil for 3 pounds of wings. Pros: -Once the oven door closes, the wings cooked in 25 minutes. It's hassle free! I was able to shift my focus in the kitchen to something else for a while. -The skin turned out crisp and pale golden all around. -Baking brings out a succulence in the wings that you don't get when either frying or broiling. Cons: The skin stuck a tiny bit to the rack, but only with a few wings. I'd oil the rack in the future. FRIED: I heated 1 3/4-inches of vegetable oil (one 1 1/2-quart bottle) in a 3 1/2- to 4-quart pot to 375°F. It took about 7 to 10 minutes to fry each batch. Pro: The skin is crisp all the way around. Cons: -I had to fry the wings in small batches. A lot of wings means a lot of batches. -I couldn't take my eyes away from the wings for a second. It's way too stressful for a...

In this oven-baked version of the classic fried finger food, a short marinade combined with broiling crisps up the skin and leaves the meat juicy. A last-minute...

Baked buffalo wings! Chicken wings marinated in a spicy sauce, broiled, served with blue cheese sauce.