Cantonese Fried Chicken Wings

Fried chicken wings! A modern dai pai dong mainstay, this is one of those dishes with not much of a clear 'standard' per se, so we wanted to teach you two versions.

LUM CHOON STYLE

For this wing, potato starch is preferred but tapioca starch will also work. Corn starch can substitute but will have a slightly different effect.

* Full chicken wings, 6 (or, twelve flats and/or drumettes)

* For the brine:

• Salt, 10g or ~2 tsp
• Sugar, 15g or ~1 tbsp
• Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 5g or ~1 tsp
• MSG (味精), 1g or ~1/4 tsp
• White pepper (白胡椒粉), 2g or ~1 tsp
• Soy sauce (生抽), 20g or ~4 tsp
• Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 20g or ~4 tsp
• Fish sauce (鱼露), 20g or ~4 tsp
• Water, enough to submerge, ~2 cups

* To coat:

• Marinade from above, ~2 tbsp
• Potato starch (土豆淀粉), enough to coat, ~1.25 cups
• Additional potato starch right before frying, ~2-3 tbsp

1. Mix the chicken wings with all the ingredients from the brine. Soak in the fridge for at least 90 minutes, and up to overnight.
2. Next day, drain the wings but reserve the marinade. Add the drained wings to a large basin or stock pot together with two tablespoons of the marinade. Mix. Add a bit of potato starch to make a sort of ‘brine slurry’ that can roughly coat the wings, then add enough starch so that everything’s visibly ‘dry’ when you toss it (will need a rather hefty quantity of starch). Toss well to coat, then set aside.
3. Get a wok of oil up to 160C. Right before adding in the wings, add 2-3 more tablespoons starch and toss again. Knock off any loose starch, then add in the wings.
4. Fry at 140C for eight minutes.

FURU FRIED WINGS

With these wings, feel free to use cornstarch if that's what you have on hand.

* Flats and/or drumettes, 10 total (or, five full wings)

* For the marinade:

• Furu, fermented beancurd (腐乳), 1 piece
• Mijiu rice wine (米酒) -or- Sake -or- Shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Salt, ½ tsp
• White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ½ tsp

* To coat:

• Egg, one small (or half a medium or large)
• Potato starch (土豆淀粉) -or- cornstarch, enough to coat, ~1.5 cups
• Additional potato starch right before frying, ~2-3 tbsp

1. Mix the chicken wings with the ingredients for the marinade. Marinate for at least three hours, and up to 48.
2. Dump the wings together with the marinade in a large basin or stock pot. Crack in an egg, then add the starch in the same manner as above (thin slurry, then enough to dry everything out).
3. Get a wok of oil up to 160C. Add in the 2-3 tablespoons of extra starch before frying, and toss to coat again. Knock off any excess starch before dumping in. Fry for 7 minutes at 145-150C. Remove.
4. Optionally fry the wings again right before serving to further crisp things up. 185C, 30 seconds.