Crisp

Nagoya Style Chicken Wings

My desire to go to Japan was heightened while I was making these chicken wings. When my husband and I travel to Japan, we usually stay in Nagoya the first night. As we age, our coping mechanism for jet lag will diminish and all we want is to sleep in a horizontal position. The city of Nagoya is between places and we know a great hotel to crash at. We did this same travel pattern often enough that we feel know Nagoya Station well. No matter how late we get there, we drop off our luggage in the room then hurriedly go down to a convenience store to buy puddings or musubi (rice ball)….that is the sort of things I long for…

This recipe is from Masahiro Kasahara (笠原将弘)’s cookbook ‘Let me handle the chicken wings too’ (手羽も俺に任せろ). He is owner of ‘Pros and Cons Arguments(賛否両論) ‘ restaurant in Tokyo. The place has far more favorable than negative reviews of course and it’s very hard to get a reservation. He has studied cooking since he graduated from high school and his late father was also a cook. It’s in his DNA to be in this field I bet. He practices Christianity and despite devastating loss of his wife last year, he makes best efforts as a chef and as a single dad for his three young daughters. Last September he opened the 2nd same name restaurant in Nagoya. I hope we could find this dig next time there. You see, we are only familiar with inside the perimeter of the station.  

Ingredients and instruction for 8 to 10 chicken wings (Print Recipe)

• 8 to 10 chicken wings

• For Marinate – sake 2 Tablespoons, salt 1 teaspoon

• Potato starch 3-4 Tablespoons

• Glaze – Mix all in small sauce pan - sake, soy sauce, mirin 4 Tablespoons each, rice vinegar 2 Tablespoons, sugar 1 Tablespoon, grated ginger 1 teaspoon and grated garlic 1 teaspoon

•  Oil for frying

• White toasted sesame seeds

1. Cut off chicken wing ends and keep the middle part. Save two other parts for chicken stock (see pic) etc..
   

2. Prick the chicken with fork
   

3. Rub chicken with sake and salt and let rest for 1-2 minutes. Wipe lightly with paper towel.
   

4. Coat wings generously with potato starch.

5. Heat oil to 356 F. Fry wings until golden color; approximately 4-5 minutes
   

6. While the wings are frying, boil glaze until it thickens some.

7. Brush the liquids over the just-fried wing on the skin side only and sprinkle with white sesame seeds. Serve with lots of napkins!
    

Crispy, Sweet and Salty chicken wings are sure hit with the Super Bowl crowd! Go Seahawk!

Last week…I noticed the tree had some buds coming in and tulips start shooting up… Why on earth I could complain about slightly below 40 degree weather since other parts of the country are freezing?

Large piece of cherry pie shared from a neighbor. I looked for ice cream in our freezer but there was none. I whipped up cream by hand. Mmmm, life is grand! Or cherry on top?

Thank you for reading thus far. Wishing you a wonderful week!

Oh one more thing…my husband is tweaking my blog and he designed that ‘nippon nin’ logo. Whada ya think?