Poultry in motion: The ubiquitous Buffalo wing, as assessed by a local who loves ’em

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — You know the old saying: You can take the wing out of Buffalo, but you can’t take the Buffalo out of the wing.

Ok, fine, that’s not a saying. But it’s true that Buffalo chicken wings are so ubiquitous that people forget where they came from — unless you’re from Buffalo.

Yes, you can find them everywhere: your local pub, chains like Wing Stop or Buffalo Wild Wings, the frozen food aisle of the supermarket (sometimes — gasp! — boneless ). Then there are the offshoots: Buffalo-flavored potato chips, peanuts and pretzels. There’s Buffalo ranch salad dressing, Buffalo mac-and-cheese, Buffalo casseroles.

Back in the day, though, there was only one place where you could get these fiery flavor bombs that can only be tamed with blue cheese dressing. You guessed it: Buffalo.

This former steel town tucked away in western New York near the Canadian border is home to the genre’s original wing. Teressa Bellissimo came up with the recipe late one night in March 1964 while feeding her son and his hungry friends. Today, that same recipe is served up at the Anchor Bar.

But there are loads of places you can get great wings in Buffalo. On a recent family visit, I discovered Bar-Bill Tavern, where you can opt for a “suicidal wing” to be mixed in with a batch of milder wings and then guess who snagged it by watching their face melt.

At Duff’s Famous Wings, you get your choice of mild, mild medium, medium light, medium, medium hot and hot, with a warning that “medium is hot” and “hot is very, very hot.” The faint of heart will go for mild, the brave will go for hot, and those who order lemon pepper wings will be judged.

Wings from Buffalo separate themselves from impostors with their deep-fried crispy outer layer drenched in vinegary hot sauce, coating the tender meat inside. You eat enough of these and the rims of your lips will burn and your skin will be stained in red.

While lots of places outside of Buffalo claim to have mastered the wing, I have yet to find one that tastes like home. And maybe that’s because I associate this food with friends and family and a city that I love, the City of Good Neighbors. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just snow (although there’s lots of it) and a football team that lost the Super Bowl four heartbreaking times in a row (but this year is our year — Go Bills!).

One other thing to know about Buffalo: Here, we just call them wings.

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Pia Sarkar is deputy global business editor for The Associated Press. Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.