Whether it’s tailgating or homegating, fans of the Buffalo Bills are known to be elite tier when it comes to food. Wingin’ It returns for it’s eighth season of Mad Hatter-esque recipes, taking inspiration from the Buffalo Bills and their opponents.
Buffalo’d Paprikash
The internet told me Paprikash is a Cleveland staple and who am I, a human being, to argue with the hive mind electronic intelligence that in no way is certain to become self-aware and create the machinery of mankind’s demise? Anyway, even if the Terminators
that told me this was a good idea are wrong, it’s still right because it’s delicious and vaguely Cleveland Browns color scheme.
Hungarian in origin (again, information fed to me by Skynet) Paprikash is so-named as a result of its heavy reliance on Hungarian paprika. Fun! My version adds some obvious Buffalo flair and celebrates the Polish roots of both sides of Lake Erie with my choice of Kluski-style noodles rather than dumplings, rice or potatoes as is tradition.
Buffalo’d Paprikash
Serves: 4-6
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 90 min
Ingredients
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs
1 Spanish onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tbsp fresh dill, finely minced
2 Tbsp hot Hungarian paprika
2 cups beef broth
12 oz. evaporated milk
4 Tbsp all purpose flour
Salt and pepper
Horseradish root, finely shredded
16 oz package of Kluski-style noodles or similar, prepared to package directions
You will need: High-walled sauté pan with lid, rubber spatula, plate, small mixing bowl
- Melt butter in sauce pan on MED; season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Increase heat to HIGH and sear chicken, 3-5 min per side.
- Remove chicken from pan to plate, and reduce heat to MED.
- Add onion, garlic, dill, and paprika to pan and stir. Sauté about 5 min, until onions are just starting to become translucent.
- Return chicken to pan and stir in broth. Adjust heat to let mixture simmer; cover and allow to cook for 45 min, stirring occasionally.
- Combine evaporated milk and flour in separate bowl (see below).
- Stir in milk/flour mixture and increase heat to MED; simmer and stir until mixture starts to thicken (see below). Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve over prepared noodles and add shredded horseradish root.
Wingin’ It Tips
This recipe is one that takes some time, but doesn’t require any crazy culinary tricks to get big flavor. I have just a few tips for you, and they’re nothing radical either.
When combining the evaporated milk and flour, you don’t need to sift it in or do anything crazy to get it smooth. This is often served over dumplings and little globs of flour will either cook in fine, or become tiny dumplings and increase the authenticity. I did a very quick stir and it worked beautifully, so don’t stress this step.
Speaking of no stress, the two pictures that start off the gallery have a really gross looking mixture and then a much more appealing one. With the higher heat, the butter will separate. The chicken thighs will have fat that will render into the mixture. Those combined fats are what you see in the first picture after the simmer-in-broth step. The next picture is after stirring in the milk and flour mixture. The flour will pull all that fat (and flavor) back into the sauce.
I promised more information on thickening the sauce and here you go. Aim for a gravy-like consistency. Good news though, you don’t need too much accuracy on that aiming. A little thin or thick should still be fine.
Finally, I debated between prepared horseradish and just fresh root. I elected to try the latter since I haven’t worked with it directly before and it was a good gamble. It gives less punch than the prepared stuff since there’s no vinegar, but that also means it doesn’t overpower the more subtle sweet tones of some of the other ingredients.
