Buffalo wing aficionados know, if you want great authentic wings, they can’t be breaded and they must be fried. Doing this at home requires a fryer or committing to a high-sided pot and cleanup. But with a gas-fueled oven, there’s another way, one that taps into a lesser-known wing tradition in Buffalo called wings “from the pit,” “over-the-pit,” “off the pit,” “Bar-B-Que,” or “BBQ.” Think of it as a way locals eat wings. For the uninitiated, this isn’t low-and-slow cooking. The technique (said to have originated at legendary Buffalo pizzeria La Nova) involves par-frying, then grilling before tossing wings in sweet, tangy sauce—a fires of hell-fueled approach for extra flavour (char, bitter, sweet) and texture (crispness and crunch). 

You can mimic this by coating wings in vegetable oil and tossing them onto a pre-heated cast-iron skillet (preferably grooved) in a gas-fired Ooni oven to great effect in a way hard to replicate in a conventional oven even with a broiler finish. They cook quickly (about six minutes) and turn out crisp and charred by the cast-iron and overhead flames. It’s key to use a digital probe (165°F/ 74°C) and to sauce when they’re done (butter-based sauces will break during a full cook with this direct heat). For extra flavour and texture, toss the wings in your sauce of choice and return them to the oven for two minutes before removing, saucing again, and serving. 

This brings us to sauce. Making your own is easy and allows control over spice level (just spike it with a few dashes of whatever super-hot sauce you keep on hand). Authenticity requires Frank’s RedHot, but your favourite hot sauce will likely result in great wings. We’ve included a classic sauce recipe with a legit local way of tricking it out (add garlic and Parmesan) and an optional one for blue cheese dressing (always better homemade) but once you’ve got those down, experiment with multiple saucings while cooking. Abigail’s, a restaurant two hours east of Buffalo in the town of Waterloo, drew acclaim for incorporating wings condiments—celery and blue cheese—into the sauce that coated them, and Elmo’s, one of Buffalo’s highly-regarded wing joints, makes “Cajun Barbecue Wings,” that are fried, sauced, grilled, then dipped in honey or barbecue sauce. Crisp, char, bitter, spicy, sweet… wow!