Suck Creek Wings
I have not been so excited or enjoyed a wing sauce out of a bottle more than Suck Creek Wings sauces.
SCW has come up with what they say is the best way to use their sauces with your wings. Basically it’s Grill ‘EM, Fry ‘EM, Take ‘Em Swimming…
Their Original (hottest), Medium (toned down), Mild (hint of heat) and Spicy BBQ (sticky finger licking) are all a treat for any wing fan.
What astounds me is finding out through talking with folks like John and Dave, that so many people are small batch manufacturers working out of their kitchen or renting space in a local commercial kitchen and hand bottling and packaging their products.
It’s a classic American story – 2 guys decide to enter a competition for hot wings, they win a couple of trophies then fans and friends clamor for their secret sauce recipe.
When we decided to enter a chicken wing cookoff in Chattanooga, we had to have a name for our team. Someone said, how about “Suck Creek Wings”? We instantly knew that the name would stand out among the other competitors and that, even if we didn’t win, they wouldn’t forget us.
Then, not necessarily in order, they:
- Began to bottle in home for friends
- A restaurant – Market Street Tavern – using only local products, wants to use their signature sauce “in house”
- They rent a commercial kitchen to be able to sell to us via the internet
What’s next? Regional distribution? National? I sure hope so!
Here’s our yummy pic of BBQ in front, Original left-rear, and Medium right-rear:
Now for the review
They have such a unique approach to a formula – they begin with a base of a cayenne pepper sauce, add their own habaneros, garlic, butter and spices – and come up with a very flavorful, spicy and unique wing sauce.
ORIGINAL: (quotes from SCW.com) “The Original Hot Wing Sauce that got it all started. This sauce was created to be a perfect combination of habanero spice and incredible flavor. The heat makes you want to take a break, but the flavor keeps you coming back for more.”
Oddly enough, this is Suck Creek Wings’ hottest sauce – with just enough heat to keep this chilehead happy. A dozen of these babies, with a nice cool blue cheese dip and a cold beer? I’m in my Happiness Box!
MEDIUM: “The same great flavor as the Original Hot Wing Sauce with just a little less kick. Do not be fooled though, this one will still jump up and bite you.”
Just a notch down in heat to satisfy the hot wing lover without burning the lips too much – the level of heat in Suck Creek’s Medium sauce is still very obvious.
MILD: “All of the flavor you could ever want in a wing sauce with very little heat. This is a new offering from SCW and has been extremely popular ever since inception.”
Are you kidding? OK – there are people that like their wings with just a hint of heat, and that’s it. Great! At least they’re not the naked wing eaters. I mean, what’s the point of that? (Oh, hi Mom and Aunt Betty.) We smeared this sauce on tortillas and made buffalo chicken pizzas. Awesome!
BBQ: “This multiple award winning BBQ Sauce is usually the one that gets the most compliments at a party. People just love the flavor and the spice together. It is sweet and smokey and followed by a hint of heat. This sauce was designed for chicken wings, but goes great with ribs, pulled pork, as a pizza sauce or a substitute for ketchup on just about anything.”
To round out Suck Creek Wings’ offerings, and by popular demand, they came up with a spicy BBQ version that, in my opinion is just a revision or 2 away from being much better. It’s sticky and sweet and spicy, but just a bit too thin. I’d like to see more “gloppiness” – thicker and with a hit more heat and garlic. For a BBQ style wing sauce – I’d put its heat at a mild level.
WFR Hot Sauce: “WFR stands for whatever YOU think it stands for. This is the newest addition to the SCW product line and it will be the biggest! This intense and delicious all-purpose hot sauce is bound to be a best seller. Its 5 ounces of habanero, garlic, onion and black pepper and is great on everything. You may want to get more than one bottle, because it will disappear fast!”
Just so you know, the boys from Suck Creek Wings have just launched their own “hot sauce” – but this stuff deserves it’s own review. For now, know it’s pretty darn hot! Stay tuned for more details.
I promise, if you at least try the Original or Medium sauces, or hell, ANY of these sauces, you will NOT be disappointed. As of this review, I have tasted but not cooked with the Mild version. We made the pizzas I mentioned, and they were sooo good.
How to best cook with Suck Creek Wings Sauce:
“We have tried a lot of different cooking methods, this is the one we like the best. Basically, you grill them, then fry them, then take ‘em swimming.”
Step 1 – Grill thawed wings until they are almost done (approx 8 minutes per side over medium-high heat) then remove from grill. Move directly to step 2 or you can refrigerate overnight until you are ready to finish them with step 2.
Step 2 – Heat vegetable oil to 375 degrees in deep fryer or in cast iron pot on the stove. If we are doing a lot of wings for a party, we will use a turkey fryer. Place wings in oil and cook for 5 minutes, or until crispy. Remove from oil and let cool and drain in a bowl for about 2 minutes.
Step 3 – WARM one of Suck Creek Wings’ award winning sauces in a pan (DO NOT let sauce get more than luke warm. It will not stick to wings as well and will not taste as good! The hot, freshly cooked chicken will warm the sauce enough.) Let the wings soak in the sauce for 3-5 minutes.
Next time I plan to try their method of cooking the wings. But this time, we baked our wings, then grilled them, then took them Skinny Dipping. Everybody was all happy!
All winners!
You can buy all of Suck Creek Wings products here.
And be sure and check out the interview we did on the HotSauceWeekly Podcast with Suck Creek Wings.
I forgot to ask you if you’ve ever had any of these great sauces, please leave a comment and let me know what you think of them! ~b
I’ve been eating these sauces since the beginning and have developed a serious habit. I’m ordering a case at a time at the moment every 8-10 weeks. I’m fairly certain kicking smoking would be easier than giving up the Suck Creek at this point. The balance of heat to flavour is really just superb no matter what your tolerance to heat.
I’ve converted several dozen people here in the Toronto area to the Suck Creek style and there’s no going back. Great review BTW… and that new hot sauce is the best thing since sliced… uh Suck Creek Original, just so you know 🙂
Is the Original Suck Creek wing sauce just like regular orange hot wing sauce or is it red with pepper powder? I can’t really tell from the pic. Maybe they will make an extra hot WFR version of the wing sauce. I think the WFR is just a regular hot sauce, not a slathering wing sauce right?
The WFR is indeed just a hot sauce. Nothing like their wing sauces.
It’s been so long, but if I could, I would wire you the money to buy their sauces… they were that good.
Now, keep in mind, they may not have been gritty or thick, but the taste was so freakin good that I would almost offer you a money back guarantee. But I can’t afford it, so go with that glowing endorsement instead. Surely not every wing sauce you want to try has to be “gritty and thick”?
Heh heh… thanks again, JenB! Your hubby must be proud!
~brian
LOL, that sure is a glowing review. I may try it, but with the shipping it’s kind of more than I wanted to pay, but I might break down and buy it. I don’t know, the red powdery/gritty sauces just taste the best to me. Maybe they will make an extra hot version soon. Thanks for the clarification on the WFR sauce, I figured it wasn’t a wing sauce since it was in a small bottle.