Welcome to our recipe for Korean-Style Baked Chicken, inspired by one of our dearest friend’s favorite treats, Korean Fried Chicken. The recipe is a result of two different dining experiences in the Philly area, specifically seeking this delectable delight.
Korean Fried Chicken, which is twice- fried, yields super crispy skin and is then typically tossed in a (very) spicy sauce. This story about our pilgrimage for delicious Korean cooking is one that must be told so that our readers will understand just how this post’s inspiration came to be. At Bonchon, the wings came with two different types of sauces: a mild, roasted garlic sauce (definitely good) and a spicy pepper sauce (the searing heat of this sauce was much preferred over the tempered garlic sauce). While trying to deal with the haze from the intense heat of the spicy sauce, our friend Rachel – who clearly has a much higher tolerance for spicy foods – popped through the wings like they were nothing.
Impressed by her fortitude, the bartender at the restaurant brought out a pair of wings tossed in a secret, ridiculously spicy sauce for her to try. Apparently, as part of a friendly, rite-of-passage ritual, new employees have to eat a pair of these incredibly hot wings upon completion of the training. Several kitchen and front-of-house employees gathered around to watch Rachel experience these wings as they cringed, haunted with PTSD memories of time when they had their own quest to ingest these inferno snacks. Once gain, she downed these wings with no issue, completely unfazed by their heat. The employees were equally aghast and impressed – she earned the MVP Award for the day!
Several years ago, the same group of friends, ate a six-course collaboration dinner between the chefs at Charcoal in Yardley, PA and the chefs/bloggers behind Ideas in Food, who had lived in the area at the time. The meal was incredible, as both sides of the team-up use creative techniques and ingredients to create unique spins on classic dishes and cooking methods. The meal also included a copy of Ideas in Food’s cookbook, Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook, in which every recipe reflects their play-with-your-food philosophy that embodies creativity, curiosity and passion in the kitchen.
When Kyle was skimming through the pages of the Maximum Flavor cookbook, he spied a recipe for Korean-Style Chicken Wings. He immediately knew he had found the base-recipe that he wanted to tinker with the recreate Korean-style wings at home. The true genius of this recipe is the marinade that you toss the chicken wings in overnight – a combination of salt, egg whites, and baking soda to dry out the skin of the wings. This leads to browner, crispier skin – a must for chicken wings! The cooks behind Maximum Flavor also suggest using this marinade for whole roasted chickens – a technique Kyle can’t wait to try out.
Before tossing the wings in the oven, Kyle had doubts – fearing the baking time might be too long for chicken wings. The fear was doubled since he could only find the separated wings, not the larger, connected wings called for in the recipe. He was sure that 30 – 40 minutes in a 450 degree oven would yield dry, overcooked wings. But, fortunately, he followed along with the directions, pushing the fear deep down, then flipping and baking the wings every 10 minutes or so until they were deeply golden brown. His smaller, separated wings took about 35 minutes, and, lo and behold, the wings that came out of the oven were ridiculously crisp on the outside while juicy and tender on the inside. Why did he ever doubt the geniuses at Maximum Flavor? Silliness. However, you never know – cooking is a experiment-based art.
Maximum Flavor pairs the wings with a Yangyeomjang sauce , a spicy Korean dipping sauce. Kyle chose to merge the ingredient list and ratios with a recipe from Edward Lee on Bon Appetit to create a spicy, delicious (albeit not 100% traditional) Korean-style dipping sauce for the wings. Lee’s recipe called for gochuchang (a Korean hot pepper paste), while Maximum Flavor called for Korean red chile flakes; neither of these were on hand, so he used sambal oelek – another spicy paste made from chile peppers. Sriracha would work great too depending on what ingredients you have on hand.
Kyle’s sauce didn’t quite pack the same punch as the wings at the Bonchon, but you can definitely scale up (or down – no judgment!) the amount of chile paste you add depending on your heat preferences. To temper the heat of the sauce, he paired them with some quick-pickled radishes, which the restaurant used to cool the palate. This works in the same manner in which blue cheese is utilized for American chicken wing. The restaurant used pickled daikon – which was gobbled down way too often to cool down from the wings (however, our friend with the Teflon mouth, esophagus and stomach didn’t need ANY daikon – show off!). Using the more readily available handy old radish works just as well. So, for your next game viewing (hopefully cheering for Villanova in the Final Four!) go for these Korean-Style Baked Chicken Wings, it is a small departure from the same ol’ wings – with a delicious kick!
Adapted from Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook and Bon Appetit.
- For the wings:
- 3 large egg whites
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda
- 1 ¾ teaspoons (10.5 grams) fine sea salt
- 4 pounds chicken wings (bonus points if you can find whole wings!)
- For the Pickled Radishes:
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pound radishes, ends trimmed in and sliced into approximately ⅛-inch slices
- For the sauce:
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, coarsely chopped
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons (or more if you want it spicier) gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) - I used sambal oelek (which is what I had on hand)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites, baking soda, and sea salt until dissolved. Add the chicken wings and stir to coat evenly. Remove the wings from the bowl and lay them out on 2 wire racks, each set over a baking sheet. Refrigerate wings overnight for them to dry out.
- While the wings are drying out, heat water, rice vinegar, sugar, and kosher salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, pour over radishes in a large bowl. Let cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put the wings (still on the racks on baking sheets) into the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the wings over and bake for 10 minutes. FLip wings once more and bake until they are deep golden brown with a crackling skin, about 10 more minutes. Take the pans out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine garlic, ginger, scallion, soy sauce, hot pepper paste, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
- Pile the wings on a serving platter and serve alongside the radishes and sauce.
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