We all love comfort food, food we’re familiar with. We’ve all got a favourite take-away too, and many of us would love to replicate it at home.
In our team in the development kitchen we’re always looking at ways we can take those favourites, that familiarity, that feeling of comfort and give it a twist. How can you take a familiar favourite and make it new and exciting?
There’s a lot of Oriental flavours in the SK Foods development kitchen – what with making such a wide range of Oriental sides and snacks – and we’re bursting at the seams with ingredients to create delicious tasting morsels with that distinctive character and aroma……..which sees us get creative!
We’ve been looking at other cuisines, exploring how we can use ingredients to encompass more of the Orient but using easy to source, common ingredients. A quick straw-poll saw fried chicken coming out as something we all enjoy (even if it is a bit naughty!) and it got us wondering if we could combine that with a more exotic set of flavours.
So we looked at where we could get that spice and flavour from, how could we take that American staple and make it different? We found the answer in Korea. Warming, smooth and with a depth of flavour, but still with that familiar, comforting concept of good ol’ fried chicken, these wings caused more than a bit of a stir in the office – in fact, there was downright competition to have a taste!
Here’s the recipe so you can try them for yourself, but be warned – you might have to make seconds!
The recipe for Korean Fried Chicken consists of few steps in which you brine the chicken wings to make them even more tender and succulent.
Next, the chicken is cooked in aromatic stock and broth is reduced to intensify the flavour. Finally, the chicken wings are glazed with a cold reduction and are coated in plain flour and in very crispy tempura batter. The chicken wings need to be fried for a prolonged amount of time to allow the batter to get very crisp and brittle. This allows for contrast of flavour and texture.
Here’s how you do it…..
Korean BBQ Sauce
1. White Sugar: 100g
2. Korean chilli paste (Gochujang hot pepper paste): 20g
3. Light soy sauce: 40g
4. Minced garlic (or garlic puree): 20g
5. Minced ginger (or ginger puree): 25g
6. Toasted sesame oil: 20g
7. Tomato puree: 100g
8. Orange juice: 50g
9. Water: 150g
10. Pineapple juice (optional): 100g
Method:
• Bring sugar and water to the boil and simmer until sugar has melted.
• Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.
• Simmer for 3-5min until thick and combined.
Korean Fried Chicken Wings
- 1. 1kg of chicken wings
- 1L of water
- 2. Salt : 40g
- Bicarbonate of soda: 30g
Method:
- Prepare the chicken wings by removing the 3rd wing part and discarding it. Use only two parts of the chicken wing in the below recipe: single and double boned joints.
- Chicken Wings Brine (optional): Dissolve the salt and bicarbonate of soda in water. Add the chicken wings and brine for 8-12h in the refrigerator.
- Remove from the brine after that time.
Cooking stock
1. Light soy sauce: 100g
2. Brown sugar: 50g
3. Water: 500g
4. 15g of coriander seeds
Brined or unbribed chicken wings.
Method:
• Bring the above ingredients to the simmering point together with the prepared chicken wings.
• Simmer for 30-35 min until chicken wings are just cooked.
• Decant the cooked wings and let them cool. When cool enough to handle remove the bones from double boned wing joints. Press the meat gently between two baking trays to firmly compact the meat (refrigerate for 2h or overnight).
• Trim the meat on the single bone wing joint to form lollipop effect (refrigerate if necessary).
• Finally strain the aromatic liqueur left from braising the chicken wings technique through metal sieve. Place back on the heat and bring to boiling. Simmer until reduced to the glaze consistency. Remember that it will thicken on cooling due to gelatine content from the meat.
• Pour the reduction all over the prepared chicken wings and let them cool.
Tempura Batter:
1. Wheat flour: 220g
2. Sparkling Water: 500g
3. Salt: 13g (small flat teaspoon)
4. Corn flour: 250g
5. Baking powder: 20g
Method:
• Combine all of the ingredients and mix them together. You are ok to leave some lumps in the batter. It will only will deliver extra texture to your crisp batter coating.
• Rest the mixture for 20min in the fridge preferably.
Final cook:
1. Heat the fryer to 180-200C.
2. Dust the cold chicken wings in plain wheat flour. Notice that the extra glaze will be absorbed by flour and it will form a flavour layer on top of the chicken meat.
3. Dip in the tempura batter from above and cook for 4-5min until batter is very crisp and brittle.
4. Serve straight away with cold side of BBQ sauce.
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
