The Best Super Bowl Wing, Veggie, And Spice Ideas From Frank's RedHot And McCormick - Exclusive Interview

Tell us all the details you can about this edible NFT that Frank's RedHot is releasing ahead of the Super Bowl.

Okay, last week, Frank's RedHot, we released the first ever edible NFT and cryptocurrency, Bonecoin, which is not real currency, right? There's no monetary value. It was really around celebrating what we consider our favorite game day snack, which is Buffalo wings. From now until the end of the Super Bowl, February 13, fans can scan their images of their chicken wing bones and that becomes Bonecoin. Whoever has the most Bonecoin will win. [Fans] go to Bonecoin.com to do this, they'll win the edible NFT and an actual NFT. The actual NFT...it's a real NFT. The edible NFT is a replica of that, and it's edible. The wings [make up] a gold Buffalo, and the wings of it are made of chicken wings.

How big is that going to be?

I think it's four feet. It's not little. It's a nice size ... all your friends can dive in and eat the wings.

I think a lot of companies are getting involved in NFT culture, if you will. Brands are jumping on and they're trying to be a part of it, and I think that's fun. I think, like other brands, we, too, are very interested in aligning ourselves with culture and what's important to consumers. Really, for us, that's what this was. We put our heads together with our agency partner and we wanted to align ourselves with culture. We usually do that across many of our digital activations, but we needed to take a step further. One, to differentiate ourselves, obviously from our competitors, but also to really show what we do best, which is food and flavor.

While an NFT is awesome, and an awesome way to engage with people, and get people excited, which they clearly are, I think making it edible and delivering this edible version, which never has been done before, I think it does two things. It's really smart for our business, because it drives what we do best, which is flavor, but it also introduces something that people haven't seen before and gets people excited in a really different way. It's such a cool visual, too, so we'll also capture that content when we deliver it, because that's going to be a lot of fun to see.

We've seen in a lot of ways in recent years how the digital world has sort of impacted food trends through social media, and TikTok, etc. How does McCormick see this intersection of food and NFTs happening going forward?

As a team, we try to really keep our ear to the ground when it comes to any new digital activations ... not to  jump in for the sake of it, but in a meaningful way to our business. I do think that as NFTs make sense for our business, you may see other opportunities with NFTs, from McCormick and Company.

Are there any other sort of new McCormick products that we should be looking out for, for Super Bowl weekend or otherwise?

You should be looking out for the Frank's RedHot Nashville Wing Sauce. That's basically taking everything that is so hot about the trendy Nashville hot chicken, which people love, and then we put it in a bottle to create a Frank's RedHot Nashville Hot Wing Sauce. This is really perfect for dousing chicken wings with and being really party-ready. It's red hot, it's extra hot sauce heat, and there's a touch of sweet, so that would be the one, the Frank's RedHot Nashville Hot Wing Sauce.

Besides Frank's Hot Sauce, though, what are some of the top McCormick brand must buys for game day weekend?

I think Frank's RedHot, definitely. We have frozen Frank's RedHot Wings in the frozen section for people who may not want to actually make their wings themselves, or want to supplement. That's an option. The Thick Sauce is a really good option, and that comes in multiple flavors. I would go with any of those, and those are all by Frank's.

We spoke with Alia and talked all about this NFT, the edible NFT, this fun Super Bowl promotion, so I'm excited to just talk food with you. Chicken wings have got to arguably be the most famous, popular, Super Bowl snack. What are some of your top tips for making the perfect game day chicken wings at home?

A couple things. I eat wings once a week, so I am a hardcore wing fan as well. If you can, deep fried is awesome, that's how you typically get them in restaurants. If you don't have a deep fryer, try an air fryer, because that way you get amazingly crispy wings.

I don't have either one of those at home, [so I] use high heat. I'm typically cooking wings at 450. It really helps to get that nice crispy skin, and if you have a baking rack, put the wings on your baking rack. That helps to circulate the heat all the way around the wings to help get that nice, super crispy texture that's perfect for a wing.

Should you rotate your wings while they're in the oven baking?

It depends on your oven. Every oven's a little different. It does help, sometimes, to flip the wings over, particularly if you're baking on a rack. I usually cook wings anywhere from 30 minutes to 35 minutes. It does help to go in and flip them over. Sometimes, if I'm baking on the sheet pan, my little trick is [to] put them on the bottom rack, and then I finish them on the top rack. If they're not on a baking rack and just on a sheet pan, that way, you're getting the bottom crispy, then you put them up top, and get them crispy from there.

What are some other ways that we can use Frank's RedHot sauce to make Super Bowl snacks besides chicken wings?

I'm going to feel like Forrest Gump here for a little bit, but some of the ones I love, Frank's nachos. We've done tachos, in that same family, but using tater tots and building out this mega awesome dish that's super shareable.

We just launched the Nashville hot sauce, so you can do something with wings, you can twist up the buffalo chicken dip. That's a classic. The OG is with cream cheese and ranch, and diced or pulled chicken, Frank's RedHot, blue cheese if you're a blue cheese fan. Sub in the Nashville hot and come up with a Nashville hot chicken dip, that would be a great thing ... One thing that we did this year that I was blown away by — one of our recipe developers made a vegan buffalo chicken dip using cauliflower rice. Absolutely amazing. It blew me away how good it was.

Buffalo quesadillas, buffalo hummus. If you want to have something that's a little bit on the healthy side, a lot of nice veggies and crudites around that.

Buffalo hummus? What goes into that?

You can make a simple hummus using chickpeas, a little oil, a little lemon, a little garlic, and then as much Frank's RedHot as you want, or you can buy a container of hummus and then mix it into Frank's RedHot. It really gives you a nice twist on a healthy hummus, [and you can] serve it with lots of veggies. You know you're going to have all the good stuff [wings, quesadillas, etc.], but that's not as good for you, so having [hummus with Frank's and some veggies] are a nice option.

[Another options is] Frank's buffalo chicken lettuce wraps. Take some pulled chicken, make a lettuce wrap out of it. We have a couple of recipes for a slow cooker, [like an] Instant Pot, if you wanted to do a buffalo style pulled pork or pulled chicken, so you can do little sliders with that.

If you want something sweet, [there's] kicked up caramel popcorn. It is absolutely amazing. It's sweet and caramel-y, and then the Frank's kicks in. It's really, really good. You can buy popcorn or you can pop your own popcorn. You're making caramel in a pan, so you're converting the sugar you're adding. I think there's a little bit of cream in there. Then, you hit it with the Franks, and then you toss it. You can throw in nuts if you want to ... It's like the best Cracker Jack ... Even better than [any] Cracker Jack that you've ever had, because it's got that Frank's heat to it, but it's not too much. When you think of eating it, it's all about sweet, salty, savory, spicy. It's really good.

What are the top, say, five spices that every home cook should have in their spice cabinet? We'll say salt and pepper's a given.

Oregano, basil, crushed red pepper. I'm thinking through my spice cabinet. Rosemary, thyme. I'm not sure I can stop at five. Is that five?

You're big on the dried herbs.

I am. I think that the dried herbs are always good. When you look at my seasoning cabinet, it's actually really well organized, which I'm happy about that. That was my project back at Thanksgiving, because it was not prior to that, it was things falling out. I really took the time to purge what I didn't need or was out of date.

I've got an equal amount of seasoning blends, as well as herbs and spices. The blends allow you the convenience and the ease of grabbing something that's ready to go, and then the herbs and spices allow you the creativity to season as you wish, and then add a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

I'm a big griller so I've got a lot of our Grill Mates seasonings. We've got a new line of all purpose that we launched last year, so we've got a great black pepper and coarse black pepper and coarse salt. I'm always using black pepper, coarse salt and garlic, and then some smoked paprika and onion and some chilies. I'm in there every night.