Chickens always have had wings, and it is reasonable to assume that since humans discovered that chickens taste good, their wings were on the menu. But the chicken wing as we know it was invented in 1964 by Teressa Bellissimo. Mrs. Bellissimo, who ran Buffalo’s Anchor Bar with her husband, Frank, cut wings in half, creating drumettes and bows, pan-fried them, and served them bathed in buttery hot sauce along with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks to offset the sauce’s heat. Exactly what inspired her is a subject snack-food historians have tossed around for decades. Did she have no other chicken parts on hand to feed her son’s hungry friends? Was it a Friday treat for Catholic customers who wouldn’t eat red meat? Was it simply thrift—a way to make use of chicken pieces destined for the stockpot or garbage can? Or is it possible that an entirely different Buffalonian, named John Young, invented them in the mid-1960s and the Bellissimos somehow got the credit?
As is the case with the contested genesis of fried clams, hamburgers, and chimichangas, the true story likely never will be known, but who cares? Pan-fry chicken pieces that already boast maximum subcutaneous fat, put a butter-enriched hot-sauce exclamation point on them, balance that with rich blue cheese dressing, and you have a winning harmony of flavors that goes way beyond an inspired bar snack. The term Buffalo is now applied to countless different chicken dishes (and even nonchicken dishes) that are flavored in a similar hot-creamy way. It is safe to say that many people who ask for Buffalo wings by name have never thought of their connection with the Nickel City, where Buffalo wings are known as chicken wings or simply wings.
The duet of hot sauce and cool blue cheese dressing has made wings America’s favorite bar snack.