Baked Buffalo Chicken Dip

A backyard birthday party for a one-year old needed me to bring something for the grown-ups, and I figured that since we’re all Western New Yorkers, I couldn’t go wrong with Chef John’s (Food Wishes) baked Buffalo chicken dip. I don’t like to steal other bloggers’ recipes and basically repost their stuff, but this was another one that I just couldn’t resist. And I get the sense that he’s really cool and wouldn’t mind. Anyway, I NEEDED to make this.

I revisted Chef John’s January post before trying it out, though. I skimmed the comments and laughed when I saw that one woman had commented, “I don’t like chicken or hot sauce, so what substitutions can I make?”

She must have been disappointed by all the responses that suggested she substitute another recipe for something that didn’t involve chicken or hot sauce.

Ahem. Anyway.

I started with one rotisserie chicken. Wegman’s had many different flavors, but I went with plain.

I pulled off all the meat, discarding bones, skin, and tendons.

And then used a big knife to chop it all up.

Puppy sure loved this step. She would have loved it more if I’d dropped things.

To the chicken, I added my favorite ingredient! Lots and lots of cream cheese. You know it’s going to be good if it has cream cheese.

And then add Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I bought the biggest bottle of it that Wegman’s had. I’m not sure why, really, since it’s not something that I use often. But I know I will use it again and I will want lots of it. That’s how you know I’m a true WNYer.

Puppy is still hoping that I drop some. She doesn’t know that she won’t like the Frank’s.

This dip isn’t just about the chicken and hot sauce – it’s also about the blue cheese. I used both dressing and crumbles (the real good kind).

I may have put more in that measuring cup than I was supposed to.

Next, add some Old Bay seasoning.

And grate some pepper jack cheese, too.

Finally, add a generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

And then mix it all up. I mixed and mixed and mixed, and then tasted. I decided to add more cayenne at this point.

After I took that picture, I mixed again and added more cayenne again. And went through that process maybe 3 times. I just wanted a lot of heat, I guess.

Finally, I smooshed everything into a baking dish.

Sprinkled a little more cayenne on top, just to give people a visual warning about the potential for heat.

And then topped with a bit more pepper jack cheese.

At the host’s house, I stuck the dip into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. When it came out, it looked fantastic!

I didn’t take pictures of it being eaten, though. I was preoccupied with holding the baby birthday girl.

But the next day, when I heated up some of the leftover dip, I did finally take a picture or two.

Chef John did good. This was yummy! It was creamy and spicy. You could taste the blue cheese and the hot sauce and it was kind of like eating wings that had been put in the blender (minus the bones). And it’s addictive.

Definitely a keeper. I might have to make this a regular dish, maybe for football parties.

Have I mentioned how happy I am to be back in NY?

Drunken Shrimp

My big brother turned 30 last week. He decided he wanted to have a big party with lots of his favorite foods. For him, this meant serving steak, crab legs, and beer. Man stuff. Guests volunteered to bring side dishes. I volunteered to make anything that they needed, adding that I would be using his kitchen because I wasn’t going to cook it in mine and then transport it across 2 state lines.

He asked me to make drunken shrimp, explaining that his favorite restaurant had drunken shrimp that were (was? is?) to die for. He happened to have the restaurant’s cookbook and scanned the page (upside down) with the recipe for me. Hmm, looked simple enough. It called for shrimp, beer, old bay seasoning, cider vinegar, creole seasoning, mutha sauce… Wait, what? Mutha sauce? The recipe said to look on page 165 for that secondary recipe. A quick phone call to my brother, and he’d scanned that page (also upside down) for me, too.

It called for 19 ingredients, ranging from liquid smoke to ketchup to molasses to cayenne pepper sauce to fresh jalapeno peppers.

19.

If I’d been in my own kitchen, I’d have risen to the challenge. Honestly, it looked yummy. But in someone else’s kitchen with all of the ingredients hiding, and with a time crunch, I figured I’d go for something a little simpler.

I found this recipe, the sole drunken shrimp recipe on allrecipes.com.

I also waited until the last minute to make it, as I wanted it to be hot for guests. I guess this made me rush a little, especially since the kitchen was full of people at this point. I pretty much abandoned step-by-step picture-taking in the chaos, too. Sorry about that.

We start off with my first ever experience with fresh ginger root. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of the stuff grated up.

I didn’t really know what to do with it, so I just tried to peel it roughly with a paring knife before running it over the grater. I’m told this grater was a goody-bag gift that my sister-in-law had received a while back (or at least, this is what my distracted brain remembers her telling me, though I could have completely messed that up). 

All I could think of at this point was how delicious the ginger smelled. I didn’t realize how amazing that stuff smells when fresh. Maybe I need to buy more fresh ginger.

The recipe said to heat canola oil over high heat. It should have said medium-high, as high was just way too intense. I subbed olive oil for the canola oil. I’m a rebel like that.

Dump in the ginger, along with a chopped onion and chopped garlic and heat for just 15 seconds or so. Too hot – it was spitting and going crazy. I think I backed it off a bit. Then add shrimp, salt, and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until slightly pink. So far, so good.

Then I stopped taking pictures. Bear with me.

Add beer, ketchup, and some white sugar, and then return it to a boil. Then, dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in a tablespoon of water, and add it to the mixture. Or, if you’re like me, decide that you’d be better off just mixing any old amount of cornstarch with any old amount of water, and put probably closer to a cup of starchy water in the sauce. Then regret it, as this is not a stir fry. Probably a lot more liquid than I was supposed to have. I actually ladled a bunch of it back out, taking with it some flavor. Then I realized that the written directions never actually said to add red pepper flakes, though they’re listed in the ingredients, and figured that was supposed to go in with the salt and pepper ages ago.  So I added them now. The recipe said to return to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Done and done. Finally, mix in some sesame oil and chopped green onions, and you’re good to go.

Once I dumped it in the bowl, I finally tasted it. My first two impressions were that (a) the shrimp seemed overcooked to me, and (b) there was not enough spice and seasoning. So I picked up a canister of Old Bay, which was out for the crabs, and sprinkled it generously on top of this.

Honestly, I liked the beer/ ketchup combination and I think this recipe would have been a lot better if I hadn’t put too much liquid in and if I hadn’t overcooked the shrimp. The overall reception was pretty good, I think, but then again, my brother is friends with nice people. Still, I found it disappointing.

I may whip up some of that mutha sauce before my brother visits us next time and try it again, this time with the restaurant’s recipe. I can also see myself trying this particular recipe again. I’ll be more careful.

Does anyone have a good drunken shrimp recipe?