in the kitchensauce on the side

Ordering the wings unsauced with the sauce in a cup. The argument is whether the sauce is a step in the cooking or a condiment at the table — and the traditions answer it differently, on the record, in their own methods.

Buffalo's account treats the toss as part of the dish: the cooked wings are placed in a bowl or pot and shaken to coat them completely in sauce before serving, and the Anchor Bar states that the sauce is added after the wing has been cooked. Both sentences put the sauce in the kitchen, not on the table.

Other traditions put it elsewhere on purpose. Bonchon brushes sauce onto the chicken by hand after frying rather than tossing it in containers, a process intended to distribute the seasoning evenly without compromising the texture of its double-fried crust. Atlanta runs the same split as a menu choice: lemon pepper wings are tossed in a dry seasoning after cooking, while lemon pepper wet, invented at the American Deli, coats them in sauce instead. Memphis does it as a whole style — wet or dry, and the customer picks. Nashville's paste is applied by the server with a spoon and gloves, immediately after the fryer in the more traditional method, which is neither tossed nor on the side.

What the dip is, nobody disputes: traditionally Buffalo wings are served with blue cheese dipping sauce on the side, and ranch dressing is the most popular wing dipping sauce in the United States. So the side cup has always existed. The argument is only about which cup.

Inference — the case for the side is texture and the case for the bowl is distribution, and both are right about their own wing. A bare-fried wing has no crust to protect and a soaked one tastes of the sauce all the way round; a double-fried shell has a crust worth protecting and goes dull the moment it soaks. This project reports the positions and takes none of them.

Fry as usual and skip the bowl. Sauce warm in a cup, wings dry in the basket, and the eater dips piece by piece — which puts sauce on the outside only and leaves the skin tight. A middle course exists and shops use it: toss half the order and cup the rest, or brush rather than shake. A dry-rub order is already this arrangement under a different name.

Available almost everywhere and asked for often, particularly for children and for takeout, where a tossed wing goes soft on the drive. Tradition holds — Buffalo counters will do it and will not pretend to like it, and takeaway containers have made the request common enough that most menus no longer note it.