Wingin’ It: Bay-Eyed Suzy wings for Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens

Sure, football is a game, but it's not just a game. Football is an experience. The kind of experience that goes better with a little food. If you're a Buffalo Bills fan looking for something special to go with your game-day activities, Buffalo Rumblings has you covered!

This week, we're going back to our roots with a fan suggestion with something I call...

Bay-Eyed Suzy Wings I have no idea when acordes7793 made the suggestion for Old Bay wings, but I know I've been sitting on it for over a year at least. This is such an easy concept that I could have turned this into a mini-bye week for my recipes, but I let the suggestion marinate until I felt inspired to make something truly unique.

And that's how we ended up with Bay-Eyed Suzies. This recipe features not only the Old Bay that acordes7793 tossed out, but ingredients prominent in the famous Baltimore drink. the Black-Eyed Susan. Marinade and a strategic shield of fat result in moist, fall-off-the-bone meat and crispy skin. The flavors are subtle but borderline addictive.

Note: The main directions are for air fryer, but this should translate well to other cooking methods.

Bay-Eyed Suzy Wings Serves: 1 -2 Active Time: 30 min Total Time: 4-12 hours (max represents overnight marinade)

2 Tbsp vodka 2 Tbsp hot sauce 2 Tbsp orange juice 5 tsp pineapple juice 1⁄2 tsp + 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning, divided (I used the Blackened variant) 1-1.5 lbs chicken wings

You'll need:Air Fryer, mixing bowls, airtight container for overnight refrigeration, tongs

Make marinade: Combine vodka, hot sauce, orange juice, pineapple juice, and one-half tsp of Old Bay in mixing bowl. wings in airtight container(s), add marinade, shake to coat and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I did overnight). Toss or flip periodically.Preheat air fryer to 390oF; combine melted butter and 1 tsp Old Bay in mixing bowl; add wings to bowl and coat thoroughly. wings to air fryer in a single layer, flip using tongs about every 8-10 min. until desired crispiness and safe internal temperature, about 25-30 min total.

Wingin' It Tips and Prep Gallery Old Bay, like many regional things, reaches cult-level status with its fans. Hopefully this at least gives me an honorary membership. There's really not much here for tips this week with the recipe being about as quick and easy at it gets (outside the marinade process).

So instead let's talk food photography. Why? Sometimes I'm not fully happy with my pictures (pretty much any burger) and if you aren't either, maybe you can give a little grace knowing some barriers.

Let's talk lighting and fat. The two pictures are the exact same wings with zero handling outside of "took a picture inside, then raced outside really quick to take more pictures." I'm a huge fan of natural light for food. Notice how the entire wing in the outdoor shot is more browned? The textures pop better in my opinion, the drink has a more natural orange hue. I could go on. This is why sometimes you will see snow in the background of later-season Wingin' It editions. I'll go barefoot for a minute in the snow because the lighting is so much better.

On the other hand, notice how the indoor picture glistens in places. Again, I took a few pictures, then immediately went outside and took more pictures. Checking the time stamps on the photos, there was one-minute difference between the first indoor and the first outdoor. That's how quickly the fat can wick into your food and give a dry appearance. Now you know why I hate burger pictures.

One last talking point, the amount of liquid in this marinade is intentionally low for several reasons. First and foremost is flavor. It's hard to tell that fruit juice is even used in the recipe when you're eating the final product. Second to that is that pineapple juice contains a meat tenderizing enzyme. These were fall-off-the-bone — but if allowed to run rampant it could result in a mushy mouth feel and texture. The low liquid amount also means these won't be remotely spicy, even with the hot sauce added, if you're not a fan of heat.