Fried chicken wings 7 ways! / Sichuan chongqing fried chicken wings, Thai peanut fried chicken wings

Hey there, it's been a while since the last post, I've been busy with transitioning to a summer research position in the UK! More posts related to that coming soon.  Just before I left, I had a craving for Korean fried chicken wings. Unfortunately, since the nearby BonChon had closed, the closest ones were a train ride away. In the course of my recipe research, it became apparent that there is a variety of methods for making fried chicken wings, with not necessarily a clear consensus on the purpose of each step (from just the Seriouseats Food Lab, there are a number of articles on fried chicken wings that use different preparations each time.  For this article, I decided to break down a number of the ways one can fry chicken wings, and what each does for the final texture.

The techniques I've observed in chicken wing preparation and frying include: marination, steaming, drying, dry coating with corn starch and/or flour, batter coating with corn starch and/or flour, and finally frying once, frying twice, or even baking.  Ultimately, the purpose of any combination of these techniques is to accomplish 2 main goals, 1) tenderizing connective tissue, 2) to create a crispy/crunchy crust. For a side-by-side comparison, I prepared chicken wings 7 ways.  All 7 were pre-marinated in buttermilk and coated with the cornstarch/baking powder/salt mixture (from here on I'll refer to it as just 'dry cornstarch coat') advocated by Kenji in the first SE article above.

From left to right, the conditions I tested were

1) Twice fried with dry cornstarch coat
2) Once fried with dry cornstarch coat

3) Once fried with dry cornstarch coat and last minute toss in flour
4) Baked, with dry cornstarch coat
5) Baked, with dry cornstarch coat and a last minute toss in flour
6) Once fried with dry cornstarch coat and cornstarch/flour based batter
7) Twice fried with dry cornstarch coat and cornstarch/flour based batter

After trying each wing, my observations were:

• Not too much difference observed between one and twice fried wings
• 1 & 2 both taste as if coated in crunchy panko, grainy-like crunch
• 3 - more KFC-like (Kentucky, not Korea) in crust flavor and texture, with crunchy broken bubbles of crust along the surface
• 4 - the worst, skin was tough and almost leathery
• 5 - baked coated and flour - surprisingly crunchy compared to the other baked wing
• 6 & 7 again, not much difference between these two, but a clear texture difference compared non-battered wings, more Bonchon like, smoother but still textured. 

My personal preference for skin/fried chicken would be #6, since I enjoy Korean fried chicken, and #7 has an unnecessary second frying step. The conclusions that can be drawn from this experiment are that a second fry is likely unnecessary if you have a marination step, as both of these are meant to soften up connective tissue. I was incorrect in thinking that a dry cornstarch coat followed by a quick toss in flour (to minimize gluten formation) would yield a similar texture as cornstarch/flour batter. The alcohol or water used in the batter likely has an important role in homogenizing the starch and liquid components and also in building up pockets of steam - resulting in a smoother, thinner crust that is more lifted from the meat.

Left: cilantro, green onions and lime for garnishing wings, Right: Sichuan chongqing blend ingredients

With this information, I went ahead and made a few batches in style #6 of Sichuan chongqing style chicken wings and Thai peanut fried chicken wings, by tossing finished wings with a few tablespoons of sesame oil and spice blend (I omitted cumin and fennel and added 1-2 tsp ginger powder and sesame seeds to finish), or with a thai peanut sauce (I used leftover Korean gochujang paste instead of red curry paste, an easier alternative sauce here).

Left: Thai peanut fried chicken wings with lime and cilantro, Right: Sichuan chongqing fried chicken wings