First and foremost, in a heavy high-sided frypan, heat the peanut oil to between 375 to 400 degrees. Some recipes say you can bake, grill, or broil the wings, but you really don't have "authentic" Buffalo wings unless you deep-fry 'em in small batches. Hot wing lovers know that this is not a heart-healthy recipe!

It is important that you first wash the wings in cold running water. Then with a super-sharp knife split them at the joints (discard the wing tips), pat them well with paper towels, and air dry them on a rack in the refrigerator. This procedure alone will ensure crispy wings once they are deep-fried.

Next, simply dust them very lightly in the flour or the chicken-fried mix-do not dip them in an egg wash and coat them with a batter. The only reason you even want them floured is because the light coating helps to keep the sauce on the wings. I also recommend that if possible you separate the drumettes from the mid-wing sections and fry them separately-the drumettes will take a few minutes longer to cook than the mid-wings.

When you're ready to fix 'em, drop about 15 wings at a time into the hot oil (each wing piece should be submerged in the oil-you want to deep fry 'em, not pan fry 'em). Then fry the batch for about 12 to 14 minutes, stirring them occasionally. You can figure they're done when the rapidly bubbling oil subsides significantly in the skillet. A couple of batches and you'll get the hang of it!

In the meantime, while the wings are frying, make the hot sauce mixture.

In a 3-quart saucepan, first melt the margarine. Then briskly stir in the hot sauce, the vinegar, the paprika, and the cayenne.

But once everything is totally combined, remove the pan from the fire right away! Cooked too long over the flame, the sauce will break!

When it's time for the wings to come out of the hot oil, simply lift them out either with a slotted spoon or a pair of tongs and place them immediately on either paper towels or brown grocery bags to drain. Then put them into an extra-large stainless steel bowl, ladle the sauce over them, and toss them briskly to liberally coat each wing part thoroughly.

The trick to getting them "just right" is to toss them with "just the right amount" of hot sauce mix. You don't want them dripping with sauce-you're not marinating them. And the more sauce you use the hotter they will become.

All that's left to do now is place the wings on a shallow baking sheet, slide them into a preheated 400-degree oven for about 5 minutes or so to bake on the sauce, and then serve them with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and a big bowl of Roquefort dip. This sho' is some fine vittles!

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Chef's Notes:

1-Just in case you want to make your own gourmet Roquefort Wing Dip, here's the recipe:

½ cup high-quality bleu cheese chunks
1 pkg. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 3 oz.-size softened
½ cup Blue Plate Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 Tbsp. premium white wine vinegar
½ cup sour cream

Put everything into a non-reactive bowl (preferably glass) and combine thoroughly. Then cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least three hours. This keeps well in the refrigerator for about 10 days.

2- The basic formula for hot sauce is x amount of margarine to x amount of hot sauce (with a little BBQ sauce tossed in to tone down the heat a little if so desired). But to increase the heat intensity of the sauce, simply do the following:
For mild sauce, use equal parts of hot sauce and margarine.
For medium sauce, use twice the amount of hot sauce as margarine.
For killer sauce, use three times the amount of hot sauce as margarine.
For kiddie wings, just splash a few drops of the hot sauce into the margarine.

3-If you don't have a large stainless steel bowl, you can put the wings into a large container with a cover, pour on the hot sauce, and shake the container briskly until each of the wings is thoroughly coated.

4-For the ultimate in Buffalo Hot Wings, try to buy what are called "grinders," extra meaty, extra large, unfrozen chicken wings. They are, however, sometimes hard to find.

5-Just for the record, the word is that the old Anchor Bar and Grill still serves over 1,000 pounds of hot wings every day!