Buffalo Hot Sauce

Combine the Frank's RedHot, garlic powder, salt, white wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce in a small saucepan. Set over medium-low heat and warm gently, stirring once or twice, until the sauce is just steaming — about 3–4 minutes. You are not cooking it, just warming it to the precise temperature where butter will emulsify smoothly. The target temperature is 130–140°F (54–60°C): hot enough to melt cold butter quickly but not so hot that it drives off the butter fat before it can emulsify. A kitchen thermometer is helpful here, but you can judge by steam: gentle wisps rising from the surface, no bubbles. Do not let it boil — boiling drives off the volatile acids that give Frank's its characteristic sharp tang.

Remove the saucepan from the heat — the residual heat from the pan is all you need. Working quickly with a whisk, add the cold butter cubes one or two at a time, whisking constantly and vigorously in small, tight circles. Each cube should melt and be incorporated before the next goes in. The technique is called 'mounting with butter' (monter au beurre): the cold butter pieces maintain enough fat crystal structure to create a stable emulsion with the water-based hot sauce. As you add each cube, the sauce will transform: it goes from thin and watery to silky and coating, and its color deepens from bright orange-red to a rich, glossy terracotta. If at any point the sauce looks greasy or the butter is pooling in orange puddles rather than integrating, the sauce is too hot — add another cold butter cube and whisk off the heat until it comes back together. The finished sauce should be smooth, glossy, and coat a spoon completely.