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On a recent vacation to Yellowstone National Park, I saw herds of bison. Plenty of them sauntered across the roadway while our snow coach approached, but none had wings to fly. The wings many of us will be enjoying during Super Bowl parties Sunday will be spicy Buffalo-flavored chicken wings. Taster's Choice sampled five varieties of the frozen wings. All were precooked and heated in the oven.
Kathy Saunders, Times correspondent
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Also sampled: Tyson ($13.88 for a 5-pound bag from Sam's Club, 49 points) and GFS (Gordon Food Service) Marketplace ($9.99 for a 4-pound bag, 46 points).Product/Score (out of 100) TGI Friday's /67 Market Pantry /52 Meal Mart Glatt Kosher/50 How'd they look? Small, almost perfect in shape. A deep, burnt orange color. Nicely shaped and glistening with sauce. Golden brown texture. Breaded with flecks of chili flakes. Homemade. Judges' comments The flavor of the restaurant brand of wings was appealing to all of the judges, but some disliked the texture, describing the meat as fake, too soft and greasy. The taste, though, was spicy, vinegary, salty and very hot. "They remind me of Hooters' wings, and they would be great with blue cheese and celery," said one judge who liked the perfect, compact shape of the wings. The wings were stringy but meaty, judges said. One panelist compared them to frog legs. Others said the small wings packed a big chicken flavor. They were mildly hot and extremely moist. Pepper flakes were obvious on the kosher wings, and they had a nice char on the outside. These were the largest of the samples. They had a good balance of sugar and salt. One judge said they were even gamey tasting. Another said they reminded her of oven-baked fried chicken. Would they buy? Four of the five judges said yes. Two of the five judges said yes. Two of the five judges said yes. Shopping information Widely available. $2.99 for a 10-ounce box from Publix. $5.99 for a 32-ounce bag from Target. Widely available. $7.99 for a 24-ounce box from Publix.
Panelists: Nan Jensen, registered dietitian with Pinellas County Cooperative Extension; Bob Devin Jones, artistic director of Studio@620; Jim Yockey, aesthetician at Anu You Institute; Times food critic Laura Reiley; and consumer/foodie John Hehn, owner of All Brite Lighting & Power Design Inc. All foods were tasted blind.
Send suggestions for product testing to: Taste section, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731 or e-mail them to jkeeler@sptimes.com. Please put TEST SUGGESTION in the subject line. To read past Taster's Choice columns, go to food.tampabay.com.
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