For Great Chicken Flavor, Just Wing It Over Hot Coals

Buffalo wings probably are the most perfect nongrilled food to enjoy while watching sports. It doesn't matter if you're watching football or synchronized swimming: A big steaming plate of fried chicken parts slathered in hot sauce is a great companion.

With the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament starting Thursday, I'll be motoring through my fair share.

Drew Cerza, who founded the National Buffalo Wing Festival, says 20 billion wings are devoured by Americans each year, and I bet that almost every one of them is fried. But why fry, especially when you can get more flavor by slapping them on the grill?

Grilling your chicken wings over the open flame will pack the wing with a flavor that will leave Teressa Bellissimo (who, as legend has it, created the first batch of Buffalo-style chicken wings at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y.) with a tear in her eye.

Grilling chicken is a source of great ire for some people. Just follow some simple tips to ensure great success.

First, make sure that you are cooking on a clean grill. I am not talking about just scrubbing it with a grill brush - really clean it.

Second, make sure that your grill grate is well-oiled. When you're grilling chicken, especially with the skin still on, you are running the risk of some serious sticking if you do not use a well-oiled grate. (And if you are using frozen chicken pieces, thaw them out.)

Now, build a fire with two heat zones - in other words, make one side hot and the other side a little less so. This will enable you to keep your chicken moving on the grill and provides a place to put your chicken that might be cooking too quickly.

Once the fire is ready, load up your grill with the chicken. Even though you have two different heat zones, it's fine to put them all over the grill because no piece of chicken will be in one place too long.

Don't walk away from the grill when you are cooking these. Flip them, move them and grill all sides of the wings. You want to see some charring on the skin, but not too much. These small pieces of chicken will cook pretty quickly, so pay attention.

I like to make a simple spice rub to sprinkle on the chicken to add another layer of flavor on these wings. After about 12 to 15 minutes of cooking, the wings will be ready to come off the grill. (Look for the juices to run clear out of the wings, or take an internal temperature of 170 degrees.)

Now for buffalo sauce. When Bellissimo whipped up the first batch of wings for her son and some friends in the kitchen of the Anchor Bar, she used Frank's RedHot Pepper Sauce. If it is good enough for Mrs. B, then it is good enough for me.

Whip up a batch of my original buffalo-style sauce and toss with 2 1/2pounds of grilled chicken wings.

TONY FATSO'S GRILLED CHICKEN SPICE RUB

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup onion powder

Combine the spices, and sprinkle liberally over chicken while you are grilling.

TONY FATSO'S ORIGINAL BUFFALO-STYLE SAUCE

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 small onion, diced

1/2 cup of melted butter (divided)

1/2 cup of Franks RedHot Pepper Sauce

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

Saute the garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons of melted butter over medium-high heat. Add the pepper sauce and the rest of the melted butter. Lower heat and stir until the sauce heats up. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and white wine vinegar. Toss the hot sauce with the grilled chicken wings.

An obvious tip: If the sauce is too mild, add more pepper sauce. If it's too hot, add more butter.