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Happy streaming. This is Lee Habib with Our American Stories and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including your story. Send them to OurAmericanStories.com.
That's OurAmericanStories.com. Our next story is a story from a listener from Australia of all places and how he came to fall in love with a food that is uniquely American, the buffalo wing. My name is Colin Beddles. I'm 50 years old and currently I live in Sydney, Australia, which is on the other side of the country, about 4,000 kilometers or two and a half thousand miles away from where I grew up in Perth. At age 20 in 1990, I set off from Perth before a working holiday in the United Kingdom. I found my way to be working in a bar in the London suburb of Kensington, where I worked in between playing cricket for the London Theatres Cricket Club, among others. And in that bar, we mingled with students from all over the world and, you know, we gained a different tuition on each other's worlds over a few beverages at the bar, of course. And during this time, I made some very good friends, so I didn't have any great conviction about where I was going to travel to while I was on my working holiday. And so I decided to go to the US and visit some of these friends that I'd made while working in the bar. And my first stop was to stay with a guy named James, who I'd met, who was attending a place called Colgate University in a small college town called Hamilton in upstate New York.
James lived across the road from a place called Ye Olde Pizza Pub. Now, my very first night that I stayed, they treated me to buffalo wings from there, and I'd never had them before in my life. In fact, I'd never even heard of them before, and they didn't have to do much to convince me to try them. And as they say, it was love at first bite. I was hooked on this new taste sensation straight away. What I remember most about that first time experience was the tenderness of the chicken that fell off the bone.
It didn't require or virtually required no chewing of the chicken meat. And then, of course, the tangy hot flavour sensation that exploded in my mouth. And the blue cheese dip, I always remember just how smooth and creamy that was and how it complemented the hotness of the wings and enhanced the flavour. And basically, that's where my love affair with buffalo wings started, and it continues to this day. My most memorable experience with a wing, well, as they say, there's nothing like the first time. So I think that first night with James and his college buddies eating wings for the first time at the farmhouse remains my greatest and most lasting memory.
But I also have another strong memory that always brings a smile to my face, and that's actually an evening spent out with some of those Colgate Uni friends, James and Jeff, Charles and Fran, in New York City in 1992 for my 22nd birthday. And we stumbled upon a place by accident, I can't recall its name. In fact, there's quite a bit about the evening I can't recall, but this was a typical New York City dive bar. And while it was a dive bar, the upside was that they serve these wings, and these wings were ranked on a scale according to their degree of hotness.
Let's call it the chili factor. And the serving at the top of this list was called the Chernobyl wing. And it was a huge sized wing, and they only allowed them to be served one at a time. Now this serving restriction, I may guess, was a requirement that was applied to the bar by the local fire department or a nearby health facility.
Now common sense would tell you to avoid this sort of danger, but as they say, making mistakes is all just part of growing up. And down they went. It seemed like a fun idea at the time to dare each other to eat these ferociously hot wings that had more punch than the closing scenes of a Rocky movie and to wash them down with one or two polite beverages. But we definitely had a few regrets the next morning, and they lingered long into the next afternoon. Have I ever met a wing I don't like?
Well, the answer is yes. One of my pet hates is when the wings are served whole and they haven't been cut up into flats and drum pieces and the tips haven't been cut off and thrown away. And this tells me that there's a lazy and unsophisticated method behind these wings that they've probably been pre-cooked and frozen, which means that the flavor is substandard and pretty bland, really. This is generally backed up by serving ranch sauce with the wings rather than authentic blue cheese dip or Lord forbid, mayonnaise or aioli sauce. Wings that are heavily baked in breadcrumbs are also just poor substitutes for the real thing.
And call me a wing snob if you like, but if they're not authentic and if they're not genuine and if they're not the real deal and made with a bit of love and a bit of time and care, then you're better off doing your taste buds a favor and going without. Is there an American food? And do I think that food is the Buffalo wing?
Well, the answer is quite simply yes. Some people might look at the hotdog and the deep pan pizza in Chicago, but at the end of the day, they're just hybrids and they don't compare to the Buffalo wing, which was born and raised in the USA. The backstory to how the wing was invented on that famous Friday night at the anchor bar in 1964 proves that this great dish is purely American as it originated at the anchor bar.
It didn't originate in Germany or Italy or even Australia. It was in upstate New York at the anchor bar. And it goes a bit like this. Dominic Bellassimo was tending bar late that evening and a group of his friends arrived with a big appetite. And he asked his mother, Theresa, to prepare something for his friends to eat. And she had some chicken wings, which were normally preserved for soup in the kitchen of the anchor bar.
And she deep fried them and flavored them with a secret sauce. And of course, they became an instant hit and regular on the menu, not just at the anchor bar, but all over the US and throughout the world. And even in Australia now, they're very popular and becoming more and more popular. And you've been listening to Colin Bettles and he's from Australia. He listens to our show in Australia too.
And by the way, America imports so many fine things around the world, our ingenuity in every endeavor, including of course, food. When we come back more with Colin Bettles here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country, and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that all of our stories about American history, from war to politics, to innovation, culture, and faith are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that are good in life. And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
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Happy streaming. And we return to our American stories and to an Australian listener of this show, Colin Vettles. The story of the Buffalo Wing and of course this Australian's obsession with it. In the early 90s, Colin headed back to London from his trip to America and started work back at the Builders Arms Bar in Kensington.
Let's pick up the story from there. Now after my first trip to the US, I returned to live in London and I still had a strong craving for buffalo wings, but there was no wing scene in London in the early 1990s. And so it was a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. And I had to go without, which of course wasn't easy. And I hadn't thought of the idea at that stage of cooking them myself. Anyway, after a period of time, a couple of my fellow bartenders and workmates at Builders Arms, Tim who is from New Zealand and Declan and Patrick, believe it or not, who are from Ireland, they'd learned about a US style bar and restaurant called TGI Friday's opening in Covent Garden. And they duly informed me that TGIs served wings.
This was a major breakthrough in my life at that age. And this new TGI Friday's became a regular haunt for me. And I'd often drag Tim and Declan and Patrick along there and anyone else who wanted to join me in a wing fest. They weren't the best wings I've ever had at TGIs, but they were certainly good and they certainly satisfied my appetite. And I'd often dine by myself at TGIs just to get a plate of wings. Now about the age of 24, not that long after returning from living overseas in London, I decided to go into business for myself and I bought a fish and chip shop. Now this youthful stab at capitalism was underscored by of course, placing Buffalo wings on the menu at North Beach Seafoods.
And this kept my wing dream slightly alive, shall we say. But in a modest way, it was just great to be serving wings at my own business, even if it was a fish and chip shop. Now, one of the things that happened at that time was my marketing for the Buffalo wings included having a dedicated advertising board that my mate Benny Morgan did for me.
And he was a sign writer. And on that advertising board, he drew a picture of a Buffalo with the price, which I'd say was probably about $5 for a serve of 12 wings with blue cheese dip. Customers would often come into the shop and look at the sign and go, I didn't know Buffalo's had wings.
Anyway, then obviously I would just be able to give them an education on Buffalo wings and they would put their hand in their pocket and buy some hopefully. These chicken wings though, they weren't cooked in corn or peanut oil. Let's just say there was a slight oceanic texture to the final flavour and the chicken meat also had to be frozen because there wasn't a large number of orders on a daily basis. So I had to defrost the chicken first. And this meant that it took a lot longer to cook the orders, about 40 minutes. So we'd lost sales, but this didn't put everyone off buying them. And we had some good loyal customers who got into the habit of phoning their orders ahead, which is what you do with a fish and chip shop anyway.
And so trying to train them up to buy Buffalo wings and getting used to the slight delay. And while I was never going to retire on Buffalo wings alone from the fish and chip shop, it was certainly a great experience. And I can always say that I, you know, I came home and I tried to follow through on my Buffalo wing dream and I did sell them to Australians for a while. Anyway, I sold the shop after a couple of years and I went to university where I studied theatre and drama and English and comparative literature and creative writing. Eventually I got into a career in rural and political journalism, which included working in the Canberra Press Gallery for several years. Now, the reason why it's probably important to talk about how I went from owning a fish and chip shop to going to university and then becoming a journalist is because my journalism career has opened up the door to some amazing opportunities. And of course, part of that is storytelling.
And in more recent years, it has enabled me to be able to return to the US on a journalist visa and write stories about rural issues and farming issues and political issues. And on one of these trips, I was able to visit the anchor bar in Buffalo, New York, where Buffalo wings originated. Now I was aware of that fact because it was mentioned in the introduction to that original wing recipe from that recipe book that I'd used in 1993. Now, the intro to that recipe says this American classic originated at the anchor bar in Buffalo, New York, where it is still a favourite with locals and tourists alike. Now, little did I know that one day I'd end up being one of those same tourists some 17 years later visiting that famous bar at 1047 Main Street in Buffalo. Anyway, when I arrived at the anchor bar, of course, I sat at the bar and was soaking up the atmosphere and taking my time eating a great plate of incredible original Buffalo wings. I eventually worked up the courage to ask the anchor bar's executive chef, Ivano Toscanni, if he would agree to do a story for me and that I'd travel all the way from Australia to capture the story of where and how Buffalo wings originated. Anyway, Ivano generously agreed and he took me out the back into the anchor bar's kitchen, which is obviously the engine room of the business and it's where all the magic happens. And I asked him some questions and he gave me some great answers, which obviously had been well rehearsed over the years, I would say. And that allowed me to write a great story about the history and origins of this American classic and to be able to share that with readers down under.
Now, just a quick summary of the story that I wrote and what Ivano told me. And he said that the original recipe and cooking method used by Teresa Balasimo on the night she invented Buffalo wings in 1964 is still being practised at the anchor bar. Ivano said that while Teresa didn't expect her wings to become an American legend, they now rank alongside the hot dog, James Dean and Elvis for American icon status. And if you go to a fancy restaurant or if you sit at a bar and have a bar menu, you will most likely find Buffalo wings. Ivano also said that the anchor bar served 2000 pounds, which is 907 kilograms, of chicken wings every single day. And their famous hot sauce is also exported to Italy, Japan, France and Germany. And they also ship fresh Buffalo wings to just about anywhere in the country.
But just like London, there was no way of buying them anywhere in Perth. So the only way to solve that problem was to start making them myself. So I started cooking my own wings at home. And like most great inventions, the evolution of my recipe was born out of necessity. And it certainly involved a great deal of trial and error.
Let's say the focus was on the errors at that time. But I started off by purchasing a recipe book that had the recipes for 365 different snacks and appetizers. And I've still got the book today. Among the recipes was one for Buffalo chicken wings and another one for blue cheese dip. So this was at the time was a bit like discovering a map to hidden treasure or a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Originally, I followed this recipe very closely and cooked the chicken wings using hot corn oil, or peanut oil boiling in a pot, heated on an electric stove and an old electric stove at that. Now, needless to say, this somewhat primitive cooking method proved somewhat problematic. And there were some consequences that came with it, such as setting fire to the kitchen, and the curtains on more than one occasion, definitely over cooking the wings on more than one occasion, resulting in complaints from neighbors due to smoke inhalation, and other catastrophes, including splattering chili sauce and melted butter on the walls. But I was determined to get the recipe right.
However, I learned from my mistakes and maintain maintain a steadfast focus on continuous improvement. And despite the misfired attempts and the burnt curtains, I eventually found a groove and settled into a consistent way of making a decent batch of buffalo wings. Still cooking buffalo wings. And, and while I enjoy cooking wings for family and friends, there's certainly more time between wing hits now than they used to be in my 20s. And in fact, now I'm probably just as happy having the carrots and the celery alone. And great job on that piece by Monty, and a beautiful piece of storytelling by Colin Vettles. And he discovered this, well, this common food group here in the United States, when he was a kid when he was a college kid. And the next thing you know, this becomes his life's obsession.
The story of the chicken wing and an Aussie listener of Our American Stories, Colin Vettles, here on Our American Stories. Immerse yourself in a world of over a billion vibrant colors with Vizio's Quantum QLED TVs. No matter where you're sitting, everyone gets the perfect view thanks to wide viewing angle.
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