Soupalooza: Chili a way to savor Buffalo wing taste without the bones
True confession: I have never eaten a Buffalo chicken wing. A travesty, I know, but I think the popularity — and easy availability — of the spicy hot snack became popular after I became a vegetarian, lo, so many years ago.
That doesn't mean that I haven't coveted wings on occasion. Hot sauce, blue cheese dressing, celery — what's not to covet? It sounds pretty tasty to me, especially if you wash it down with a nice cold beer.
So when I saw a recipe for a “Buffalo-style” chili, I knew this was my chance. This recipe doesn't include chicken, but rather black beans, quinoa and hominy — a protein home run, if there ever was one. The texture of the quinoa gives a “meaty” quality to the dish and the hominy and black beans add a nice depth of flavor and serve as hearty backdrop for all the spice this dish has to offer.
And spicy it is. That's because the Buffalo-style part of the recipe comes from a quite liberal use of hot sauce, even by my standards. This recipe specifically calls for ½ cup of FRANK'S ® REDHOT®. (Note: I am using all caps here because that's what the Frank's people require not out of my unbridled enthusiasm). Apparently, the aforementioned sauce is the secret ingredient used in the first recipe for Buffalo chicken wings, back in 1964.
In any case, Frank's has that nice vinegar punch and cayenne kick that seems to be a chicken wing staple and it's easy to find in the grocery store. However, I am sure any red hot sauce would work just as well. At first, when making the chili, I skimped a bit on the sauce with the fear that it would be way too hot, but as the chili cooked, it seemed to temper the heat a bit. I wound up adding the entire half cup and the result was spicy, but certainly not overwhelming. Still, we are talking about a ½ cup here so go slowly because, of course, you can always add more.
The other secret ingredient in this chili is smoked paprika. Until recently, I always thought of paprika as nothing more than the garnish you sprinkle on deviled eggs. However, there is a huge difference in paprikas, I have learned. The smoked kind has a deep, woodsy flavor and comes from smoking the peppers before grinding them. Using smoked paprika in this recipe adds another nice dimension of flavor.
And, finally, the recipe calls for sprinkling blue cheese on top and broiling it until the cheese melts. This really takes it back to its Buffalo wings roots. Serve it with celery sticks, if you want to really be authentic. Oh, and a nice cold bottle of beer wouldn't hurt either.
• M. Eileen Brown is the Daily Herald's director of strategic marketing and innovation, and an incurable soup-a-holic. She specializes in vegetarian soups and blogs at soupalooza.com.