Puh-Pow Chicken Wing Recipe
A mashup of traditional Buffalo Wings with Mission Chinese Wings and Pok-Pok Korean style double fry
My spouse entered us in a Super Bowl chicken wing contest. We built a submission and our friends gave us some awards. But we weren’t satisfied. We took the best elements of the other competitors and made something better.
Our best competitors used a Pok-Pok inspired Korean style double fry technique instead of baking the wings. We adopted the double fry cook, but kept our insanely good sauce.
Here are the recipes:
Adapted Mission Chinese Chongqing Wing Spice Mix
Yield: Makes about 1 cup
Spice Mix Ingredients
2 tbsp whole Sichuan peppercorns (we used AAA grade)
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 star anise (we reduced the star anise from the Mission Chinese recipe)
2 black cardamom pods (the quality of the cardamom pods matters)
1½ tsp whole cloves
2 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp + 2 tsp Mushroom Powder (recipe follows below)
2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt
Process
Toast the Sichuan peppercorns, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, cardamom and cloves in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring continuously until fragrant. In a small bowl, combine the toasted spices with the cayenne pepper, Mushroom Powder, sugar and salt.
In a spice or coffee grinder, grind the spice mix to a powder, working in batches if necessary. The spice mix will keep in an airtight container for about a week before losing much of its potency.
Mushroom Powder
Yield: Makes about ½ cup
This is the gentleman’s MSG. It’s umami incarnate, in powdered form. It makes dishes more savory, but since it’s made primarily of powdered dried mushrooms, it lacks the stigma — unwarranted or not — of MSG. You can find mushroom powder at Asian markets or online, usually from Taiwanese producers. But a slightly less potent, and less mysterious version is easily made at home. I wouldn’t recommend making this in a large batch, as the flavor dissipates over time.
Ingredients
1 (1-inch) square of kombu (for dashi)
½ oz dried shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
Process
Use a pair of kitchen shears to snip the kombu into 4 or 5 smaller pieces, then grind it to a fine powder in a spice or a coffee grinder or blender. Transfer to a bowl.
Grind the mushrooms to a powder and combine with the kombu. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Like ground spices, this begins to lose its potency immediately.
The Sauce
½ cup Adapted Mission Chinese Chongqing Wing Spice Mix
½ cup (1 stick) of butter
½ cup of Frank’s Original Hot Sauce
Process
30 minutes before the wings are finished cooking, melt the butter on low heat in a small sauce pan. When the butter is fully melted, add Frank’s Hot Sauce and whisk together until an emulsion is formed. Keeping the heat on low, whisk in the Adapted Mission Chinese Chongqing Wing Spice Mix. Once it is fully mixed, keep it on the low heat for about 5 minutes to keep the temperature between 125 F and 165 F, stirring frequently. Then turn off the heat. Stir occasionally and, using low heat, raise the temperature back to above 125 F before coating the wings.
The Wings (Pok-Pok Style Double Fried)
Batter and Chicken
1 cup of all-purpose flour
3 tbsps of corn starch
1.5 cups of tap water
2 to 4 lbs of chicken wings, straight from package
Process
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set a wire rack inside.
In a large bowl, mix the Batter ingredients and submerge and coat all of the chicken wings in the batter.
Heat about 2 quarts of vegetable oil to 350°F in a wide and deep pot. Make certain you have enough oil to completely submerge the first chicken wing.
The first fry of 2 to 4 pounds of wings is done in 2 batches because the oil cools a lot on the first fry. For us, a batch averages 7 to 8 wings. You will cook the first fry batch for about 7 minutes after you have inserted all of the chicken wings in a batch. Don’t linger on inserting the wings.
When you ready to start submerging chicken wings, be prepared to keep the heat turned up to maintain the temperature of the fry. For me, this meant keeping the heat at full high on a medium sized burner on a Wolf stove.
Submerge the chicken wings in the oil one at a time by picking a wing up with tongs, allowing the excess batter to run off in the batter bowl, and then holding the wing in the oil for a few seconds to allow the batter to form on the wing. Then let the wing drop. As you add wings to the oil, you will want to stir them occasionally and break them apart.
Once the wings are a light golden brown, remove them from the oil using a spyder and sit them on the wire rack/baking sheet. Keep each batch segregated on the sheet.
Bring the oil back up to 350°F and repeat the process to first fry the second batch.
Once all of the wings are removed from the oil, wait 5 minutes to 2 hours before starting the second fry.
Bring the oil up to 375°F and be prepared to keep the oil on high heat to maintain the temperature.
Using the spyder, place all of the wings into the oil, beginning with the first batch’s wings and finishing with the last wings removed from the oil.
Stirring occasionally, fry the wings for about 8 minutes until they are golden to dark brown, depending on your taste.
Remove all of the wings from the oil and place them back on the wire rack. Wait 2 minutes.
Place the wings in a large metal or glass bowl. Coat the wings with the sauce completely. I find that coating the wings is easiest if you place the wings in a single layer on the bottom of a large steel bowl. Pour the sauce over the layer and then use tongs to gently stir the wings in the sauce.
The wings taste great for hours. They will keep their crunch into tomorrow morning.
