Chinese breaded chicken wings

[FeChef]

Anyone know how these are made? It seems like every chinese restaurant or buffet have similar taste and texture. Breading seems to stick very well and recently i was at a local hole in the wall buffet and they had a small warmer pot filled with buffalo sauce to put on the wings and it was fantastic. Damn near put just about every local american sports bar restaurant wings to shame. One thing i noticed about the wings is they have a very yellow almost orange skin under the breading and i believe that most of the flavor is under the breading so most likely a brine that is yellow/orange.

Edited March 16, 2013 by FeChef (log)

[OliverB]

I think I recall reading they use a batter, not just breading (i.e. rolling around in crumbs after egg dip etc) and might precook the wings (and other meats) first. Still a mystery to me how the whole thing stays crunchy after being bathed in sauce sometimes, I guess the sauce only softens the outside but not the just as crunchy (from frying) inside of the dough shell?

As for the color, it might just be food coloring?

[FeChef]

I suppose its possible that they use a batter first and then dredge in some sort of breading flour. Its definitely not bread crumbs. They probably double fry to get that insane crunchy shell. It could also be that the warmers they put them in are drying them out and making them crunchy, but i would think the steam would make them soggy. Im talking about the plain breaded ones they usually put in with the egg/spring rolls. Ive never seen the breaded ones in a sauce though. Usually the ones in a sauce are not breaded. I just love that this local chinese buffet puts a container of buffalo sauce out for you to put on them after you put them on your plate. Soooo Gooood. I guess this is one of those secrets nobody ever wanted to share, or this is a regional type of chinese chicken wings. Even a google images search for chinese chicken wings results in no breaded chicken wings.

[liuzhou]

Could it be they are using something like this?

Ingredients listed (in Chinese) are starch, wheat flour, various additives (preservatives and coloring*) and soybean protein. They suggest it is to be used for fried chicken wings, pork chops, fish slices, shrimp balls, oysters, fillet steak, scallops or cuttlefish balls.

*including "lemon yellow" and what I am sure is E110 Sunset Yellow.

[FeChef]

liuzhou

That is japanese panko bread crumbs and it not the texture of these breaded wings. If you are familar with KFC breaded wings they are more like that but less flavor in the breading and more flavor in the skin if that makes any sense to you. OliverB made a point that they may be using a batter first then dipping in some sort of breading so im thinking maybe they are using some sort of tempura first then some breading flour. The initial batter could also be what holds the flavor and yellow/orange color and it just appears to be in the skin.

[GlorifiedRice]

Could it be the way Maangchi does her breading for fried chicken?

She puts Potato starch and eggs in the bowl with the seasoned chicken wings and mixes it by hand till its a gloppy, but delicious, mess and then

fries the wings

Here

I made these for a potluck and that breading was not falling off

[liuzhou]

liuzhou

That is japanese panko bread crumbs

They may not be what you are looking for but I can assure you they ain't Japanese and they ain't breadcrumbs.

[Bjs229]

I make a basic marinade ginger ,soy, garlic, sugar and some Asian curry powder. I then fry the marinated wings that have been battered in flour , cornstarch, garlic powder ,turmeric salt and pepper

[Bjs229]

The batter is made with cold water and is a little thinner than pancake batter

[eternal]

Potato starch is the secret in MC@H. Works very well 1:1 ratio with flour

[liuzhou]

Potato starch is the secret in MC@H. Works very well 1:1 ratio with flour

That is virtually the composition of what I posted in post 7.

Edited March 17, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[FeChef]

I believe I figured out the yellowish color and flavor. I substituted chicken bullion powder for the amount of salt ( in mg ) that i normally use for a 5% solution sodium/water. For example 50g (by weight) of salt to 35oz water (by weight) to 100g of chicken bullion powder and 35oz water. I then add sugar after ive reached the 5% salt/water ratio. Brine for 6 hours and although i still cant seem to duplicate the breading texture, the flavor was spot on and the color of the chicken skin was a nice golden yellow underneath the breading. God i love MSG and yellow #5.