One of my favorite cooking shows is The Best Thing I Ever Made on the Food Network. In the episode "Tasty Travels," Andrew Zimmern shared a recipe for Grandmother's Chinese Chicken Wings. He could not say enough about how good these wings are, so I decided I had to make them myself. I found the recipe online and read all the positive reviews before starting. I like to try a recipe as written the first time before putting my own spin on it but I knew there were a couple of things I would like to do differently. A few reviewers noted that the recipe is slightly different from the video, so be aware of that if you follow the recipe at Food Network.
We like crispy skin on our wings so I chose to cook mine in a hot wok with oil. Next time I may even try deep-frying the wings first for even crispier skin.
There was a lot of spitting, sputtering, and steam, but what a beautiful day for it!
The Asian-style sauce has scallions, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, mirin, oyster sauce, star anise and cinnamon. The sauce is assembled in a bowl then poured over the wings as they cook. Eventually the sauce thickens and becomes sticky.
I followed Andrews suggestion to emulsify the chicken fat into the sauce by turning up the heat at the last-minute to boil the fat into the other liquids. Then I poured it all into a fresh pan for garnishing and serving.
Delicious! Thanks to Food Network and Andrew Zimmern for a great wing recipe!
Grandmother's Chinese Chicken Wings
Equipment
- Large non-stick skillet or wok
- Paper towels
Ingredients
- 1.75 pounds chicken wing parts tip segments removed
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch, rice flour. Do not use all purpose flour. Leave it out if that is all you have.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup peanut oil or vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup water
- ⅓ cup Shaoxing wine or sake, or dry white wine
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- 5 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce in a pinch
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 inch fresh ginger thinly sliced
- 1 clove star anise
- ¼ teaspoon sichuan peppercorns or white pepper or finely ground black pepper
- 1 dried hot chili or ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- Sliced green onions for garnish
- Sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Place a 14-inch nonstick sauce pan or large wok over high heat. Add the peanut oil and heat until it glistens. Add the chicken and sear to golden brown.
- Add the water, sake, soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, oyster sauce, ginger, star anise, dried chili and cinnamon stick to a small bowl and stir to mix.
- Pour the sauce over the hot chicken in the pan. Bring back up to a simmer. Cook, covered, about 12 minutes.
- Uncover and simmer until the pan is almost dry, tossing frequently to coat the wings, another 10 to 12 minutes.
- Skim off the fat if you like, and serve, garnishing with scallion shavings and sesame seeds. Or emulsify the chicken fat into the sauce by turning up the heat at the last minute to boil the fat into the other liquids. .
- Garnish and serve.
Nutrition
Approximate nutrition information is provided as a convenience and courtesy only. You are encouraged to do your own calculations if precise data is required.
We take every effort to ensure that the estimated meal cost per serving is accurate. We use a meal cost analysis application that estimates the cost of a recipe based on groceries purchased at a Walmart store in my geographical area, northern California.
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