Pok Pok's Fish Sauce Chicken Wings
I’m not usually one to rep an all-day cooking project that requires you to go collect a bunch of ingredients and possibly tools you don’t already have, so bear with me while I do exactly that. Why? Because really, truly these may be the best wings I have ever tasted. Tender meat encapsulated in a shattering crispy crust and glazed with sweetness, stickiness, and umami. Some good things come from a few simple ingredients handled with care (e.g. most of this blog) but others come from a lot of steps followed carefully that have been perfected by very good chefs. Plus deep frying.
Pok Pok is a restaurant in Portland and I have been to neither the restaurant nor the city. I’m sure that eating these wings there is way better than eating them in your house, but circumstantially that is not an option for me right now and you’re quite possibly in the same boat if you’re reading this. Their recipe, shared in their cookbook, is a close second. Unlike many restaurant cookbooks that struggle to translate their larger production recipes for the home cook, this book works great for us joe shmoes. You should buy their book for this reason, and because there are lots of beautiful photos and essays in there, but also because it’s really important to support local restaurants right now and adding to your cookbook collection is a great excuse to do so.
Back to the wings. Have you ever thought about how many different chickens you’re eating when you eat a plate of wings? What are the chances of two of your wings being from the same bird? If high, would that give you peace of mind or freak you out? These are some of life’s greatest questions.
You know what isn’t a question? How perfect every last part of this recipe is. These wings are marinated in fish sauce, garlic water, and sugar (tbh, jealous), coated in rice flour and Gogi tempura mix, and then deep-fried. Then that fish sauce/sugar/garlic water mix and some extra hot chili paste are reduced to a sticky caramel glaze before the wings and fried garlic granules are tossed in the wok. The glaze becomes a concentrated umami bomb with a little sweetness and the kick from the Naam Phrik Phao coats your mouth with smoky tingles.
Yes, you do have to make the garlic water, fry the garlic, marinate the chicken, make the Naam Phrik Phao, find Gogi mix, fry the chicken, reduce the glaze and assemble. If you don’t have a full day, make the Naam Phrik Phao, marinate the chicken, and fry the garlic ahead of time and the whole thing will come together real fast.
Eat ‘em while they’re hot, maybe while watching men throw balls around on TV if that’s your thing, or maybe just in a big heap for dinner if it isn’t. Thank you Pok Pok!
Ingredients:
Sauce & Marinade
1 ounce peeled garlic (~8 cloves)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ cup warm water
½ cup Vietnamese fish sauce
½ cup sugar
2 pounds chicken wings
Naam Phrik Phao (roasted chili paste)
¼ cup bird eye chilis (the book calls for dry Thai chilis but I prefer fresh)
Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
Frying & Finishing
Vegetable oil (lots)
1 cup white rice flour
¼ cup water
1 to 2 teaspoons Naam Phrik Phao
*Special Equipment Needed
Directions:
Very finely chop garlic. Then, add the salt and chop more. Scrape into a bowl with ¼ cup warm water and let sit for a few minutes. Then strain the garlic by pouring it into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and pressing it with the back of a wooden spoon. Reserve the garlic.
Add fish sauce and sugar to the bowl and mix until sugar is dissolved.
Place chicken wings in a large plastic bag or bowl and toss half of the marinade in. Seal/cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or as long as overnight. Set the other half of the marinade aside.
Pour enough vegetable oil into the wok so that it’s about ¾ of an inch deep and heat over high heat until it shimmers. Decrease heat to medium-low and add the garlic. Stir and fry until golden brown, around five minutes. Strain the garlic through the mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl. Transfer garlic to a paper towel and reserve the tasty garlic oil for another use.
Chop the bird eye chilis, then wash your hands and don’t touch your eyes for a while. Wipe out the wok and refill it with the same amount of oil. Heat over high heat until it shimmers, then decrease to medium-low. Add the chilis and cook until brown (but not black). Strain the chilis through the mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl. Reserve the spicy chili oil for another use. Add the chilis to your mortar and pestle and grind them up until they resemble a thick paste. Transfer to a container and add just a bit of the oil so that the paste has a peanut butter texture. Add a dash of sesame oil. Wipe out the wok. (This will make more Naam Phrik Phao than you need! Save the rest in the fridge for a while!)
Transfer wings to a colander and shake off excess moisture. Pour enough oil into the wok so that the wings will be submerged. Set over medium heat and bring the oil to 350 degrees (use the deep-fry thermometer).
Mix rice flour and tempura batter in a bowl. Toss half the wings in the flour mixture to coat, then knock them against the edge of the bowl so excess flour falls off. Add to the wok. After four minutes, prod and flip them. Wings are done after six to eight minutes and will be deep golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel to drain. Repeat with the second batch. Drain the oil and wipe out the wok.
Add ¼ cup water to the reserved fish sauce mixture and stir well.
Set the wok over high heat. Add half of the fish sauce mixture and a bit of chili paste (determine how much based on your spice preference) and bring to a boil. Cook until it has reduced by half (about 45 seconds). Add the chicken wings and toss in the sauce using tongs to coat and further reduce the sauce to a caramel glaze (about one minute). Add half of the garlic and continue to toss until the glaze has turned a shade or two darker (about 30 seconds more).