skinny girls & mayonnaise

It’s no secret that I think the chicken wing is the best part of the bird. I recently commented on an Asian chicken wing post on one of my favorite blogs, Attempts in Domesticity, that I heard they were engineering chickens with eight wings — spiderchickens! (A combination of humor and wishful thinking.)

One of my favorite kinds of wings, along with original Buffalo wings and twice-fried Korean wings, are Chinese salt & pepper wings. I used to get them back in the day at cheap Chinese takeout counters — you know the kind, with the compartmentalized styrofoam take out boxes where you can choose between noodles or fried rice and two entrees for $5.99. I would always choose the noodles, perhaps braised eggplant or long beans, and salt & pepper chicken wings. I would get four or five golden velvety fried wings wok-cooked with scallions and red serrano pepper slices and sprinkled liberally with salt.

Invited to a pool party, wanting to bring an appetizer and faced with a large bag of chicken wings I’d purchased on sale that was making my freezer difficult to close, I decided to see if I could reproduce the simple perfection of the wings I’d known and loved in my poorer days.

It took me a little research online to find what I was looking for, but soon I was browsing a variety of delicious-sounding recipes. One site had a photo that looked remarkably similar to the wings I used to buy, but when I read the instructions was dismayed to discover that the “secret ingredient” was powdered custard mix. So I soldiered on. I got hung up for a bit on a fun website called Mom’s Chinese Kitchen with a tasty sounding recipe and a rather delightful looking guy reminiscing about his childhood in San Francisco’s Chinatown. But soon I had collected enough knowledge to give the wings a shot.

I took the elements of each recipe that seemed most likely to produce what I remembered — especially if the photo looked right. What I wound up with was something crispy, salty and spicy — delightfully satisfying, if not quite as good as those takeout originals (at least in my memory). I brought mine to a barbecue, where they vanished with a flurry of greasy digits in a matter of minutes. (Our host alone ate four of the 12.) But they would be welcome just about anywhere people gather and eat with their fingers.

Why are they “Forbidden”? Because anything Chinese you do just sounds more exotic if you add “forbidden”. Plus, if you’re married to a vegan, health nut or yoga practitioner, well… you get the idea.

Enjoy!

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Chinese salt & pepper wings
serves 4 as an appetizer

16 chicken wing segments (sometimes called “party wings”)
1 egg
1 tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns, toasted
1/2 tsp. crushed black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. powdered dashi broth (optional)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 rice flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 large scallion
1 red serrano chili, thinly sliced crosswise
salt to taste

In a mortar, grind together the peppercorns, black pepper, salt and dried dashi broth (if using) until smooth. Toss together with the flours in a shallow bowl.

Beat the egg and toss the chicken wings in the egg. Then dredge them in the flour mixture (you can put the flour in a paper bag, then add the wings and shake). Heat oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large shallow pan. When the oil is hot, fry the wings — 2 or 3 minutes per side, flip and the same for the second side, then flip again for once more on the first side and repeat — until golden and crispy. Remove to a rack and let cool for a few minutes.

Pour the oil from wok or pan, but do not clean. Remove any burned bits of flour.  With the oil that remains coating the pan, heat it the pan again over medium-high and add the scallions and chiles. (In the event the oil in the pan is too dirty or filled with browned flour, wipe the pan clean with a paper towel and add 1 tbsp. fresh oil.) Stir fry for about 2 minutes, until wilted and translucent. Add chicken wings and continue stir frying for another 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and sprinkle with additional salt to taste.