LOS ANGELES — “In Korea, people eat wings like a snack, and most people eat them with beer,” says Aldo Aldo Nakaganeku, who with his wife, Nami, runs Hot n Sweet Chicken in Los Angeles.
“Thousands of people offer wings. It’s like Starbucks here.”
The Nakaganekus developed their wing recipe after eating fried chicken in Korea, Singapore, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and, of all places, Canada (every place they traveled, they’d be sure to try the fried chicken). Then they spent five years experimenting and perfecting the wings they now serve at the restaurant.
Nami’s wings’ coating is crisp and golden, light in texture, and when you take a bite, it shatters, then melts on your tongue. That crisp, airy quality is similar to what you’d get if you dipped a wing in tempura batter. Nami uses a mix of cornstarch and flour in the batter.
The oil nami uses is light in color, due to her switching it out almost every day after service.
She uses a gloved hand to drop each wing, one by one, into the fryer. (Aldo estimates that Nami makes and coats about 1,200 wings a week.) On contact, the oil seethes around the chicken.
Wielding a large, slotted utensil, Nami pushes the chicken back and forth, continuously moving it around the bubbling pool. After about five minutes, she takes what looks like a giant knitting needle and punctures each piece, once or twice in the oil. “This so chicken is done,” Nami says. She doesn’t use a timer. She moves the pieces around, lifts them out of the oil to check the color, then, about five minutes later, declares the wings cooked and ready for saucing.
She then coats the chicken in a bright, salty, soy garlic sauce — it’s made with a heady mixture of 15 ingredients, including sake and garlic. The sauce is thinner than a glaze, with a hint of ginger and that distinct sweetness that comes from sake or mirin. (You can eat a dozen without much effort.)
The couple shared a version of the soy-garlic chicken wing recipe, minus a few secret ingredients.
SOY GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS FROM HOT N SWEET
About 1 hour. Serves 12.
SOY GARLIC SAUCE
2 cups corn syrup
1½ cups low-sodium soy sauce
1½ cups water
½ cup sake
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons grated ginger
1½ teaspoons minced garlic
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the corn syrup, soy sauce, water, sake, sugar, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced to 1 quart, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
CHICKEN BATTER
3 cups flour
1½ cups cornstarch
1½ teaspoons sea salt
¾ teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup water, more as needed
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sea salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the water to form a batter that has the consistency of cake batter (if the batter thickens too much, thin with additional water).
SOY GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS
Oil, for frying
3 pounds trimmed chicken wings, cut at the joints and wing tips removed (about 36 pieces)
Prepared batter
Prepared soy garlic sauce
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Sliced green onion, for garnish
1. Fill a 4-quart pot with frying oil to a depth of 3 to 4 inches. Heat the oil to maintain a temperature of 350 degrees.
2. Working with a few pieces at a time, dip the chicken into the batter, shaking off any excess. Deep fry the pieces until the crust is golden-brown and the meat is thoroughly cooked, about 8 minutes. Drain the pieces on a rack and continue until all of the chicken is fried.
3. Toss the chicken in the soy garlic sauce (there may be some left over) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve the chicken garnished with green onion.
Note: Adapted from a recipe provided by Hot n Sweet Chicken