Since I’ve started food blogging late last year, I have been reading a lot of rave reviews about Momofuku’s Fried Chicken and its Octo Vinaigrette sauce. Mind you, I’ve also search how much that Momofuku Cookbook is, and at the moment I don’t have the ‘moolah’ ($) for it, wish I did. I’m still trying to save for my ultimate two wants…..a Kitchen Aid mixer and a Canon DSLR (I got a looooong way to go, btw!). But the stars were smiling at me and I found a site that provide extracts of the Momofuku Cookbook….original recipes of Momofuku’s Fried Chicken and Octo-vinaigrette links can be found here.
My final nudge of curiosity was with Trissa’s posting of her Momofuku inspired Chicken Adobo (Trissalicious). I was a bit of a unbeliever about the brining and steaming before frying, but man! this Momofuku’s fried chicken method and dressing recipe is sure a keeper. I’ve tried the fried chicken recipe (it calls for a whole chicken) with chicken wings, as they are only around AUD$2.50 per kilo, in case the TRIBE won’t like it. But with this Fried Chicken, I was totally wrong, they ate the 2 kilos in one seating…..Mr. H told me next time I cook this again, he wants the chicken maryland (thigh&leg) as he doesn’t have the patience to eat chicken wings. Personally, I’m a wing addict…give me chicken wings anytime specially fried ones or baked and I would be happy sitting in front of the TV with a bowl, eating all the meat and skin (I love the skin!) off the bones.
When we tasted the Octo-vinaigrette with the Fried Chicken Wings, it tasted so familiar in a nice way to me, I told Mr. H that the sauce would be good with “Crispy Pata” (Deep Fried Pork Leg) as it is more mellow than the original Crispy Pata Dipping sauce. I do agree with David Chang that it goes well with any seafood, poultry or meat but about Ostrich eggs, I don’t know as I haven’t yet tasted one, I’ll leave that to him that it doesn’t go well with the Octo-vinaigrette.
MOMOFUKU’S FRIED CHICKEN WINGS with OCTO-VIN Adapted from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan
INGREDIENTS:
2 kg chicken wings
4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
cooking oil for deep frying
1 thumb size ginger, peeled and finely chopped
3 big cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup usukuchi (Japanese light soy sauce)
2 tbspn grape seed oil
1/4 tspn sesame oil
1 1/2 tbspn white sugar
pinch of pepper
*used U.S Measuring Cups & Spoons
COOKING PROCEDURE:
~ Rinse your chicken wings and trim stray feathers. In a large plastic container or large pot, mix the sugar, salt and water. Stir till the sugar and salt crystals are all dissolved.
~ Arrange the chicken wings in the plastic container and pour in the seasoned water. Make sure that the chicken wings are fully submerged. Cover with lid and refrigerate for 1-6 hours.
~ Once the chicken wings are completely brined, drain and arrange in your steamer tray. Bring to boil the water in your steamer base or wok before placing your steamer tray, lower the heat into medium and steam for 40 minutes. Keep the lid slightly ajar, I’ve used a bamboo skewer on one of the edge of the steamer tray so that the lid won’t completely close.
~ When the steaming is done, remove the chicken wings and let it cool in a cooling rack. Place in a large container with lid and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
~ Take out the chicken wings 30 minutes from the fridge before frying. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan and deep fry the chicken wings until golden brown and crispy. Drain in a large bowl lined with kitchen paper towels.
~ For the Octo-Vin Sauce, mix the last 8 ingredients and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
~ Pour over the freshly fried chicken wings and serve at once.
NOTES:
- Make sure you chopped your ginger and garlic very finely by hand. I don’t like ginger personally but I love it, in this dressing. The ginger and garlic blends with the rest of the ingredients and I think chopping it so finely is the secret key to it (David Chang was right about this!). I also like to thank Kevin Pemoulie, creator of the octo-vin for sharing this wonderful dressing…..what a genius!
- You can buy kosher salt in this link, USA Foods in Australia. If you know a shop that sell kosher salt here in Brisbane, just leave the details in the comment box as it will be a great help.
everyone in the foodblog world is on to momofuku! i think i missed the bus as i've never tried any of its recipes!!! mmmm but gotta love those fried chickens.....
ReplyDeletei have the momofuku book which was given to me by my friend (i actually blogged about it in my post: laura's note) but gosh I have yet to try one of the recipes. You did a fantastic job with this fried chicken.. finger looking good...mmm!
ReplyDeletei have done marketman's version of the pork buns and now this is next --- thank you!
ReplyDelete..and this change the usual fried chicken we have at home..thanks for this recipe.
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