Momofuku week, Fried chicken with octo vin
Who doesn’t like fried chicken? I have been making the same fried chicken for years (pictured here and here), and have lusted after Korean fried chicken, so was excited to try David Chang’s version from the Momofuku cookbook
Chang’s chicken is brined for several hours, which helps the flavor tremendously because he doesn’t use any dry rub or batter/dredge. The chicken is cooked in a two step process, starting with a steam, followed by a fry, with a thorough chill in the fridge in between. I have seen this steaming technique used in the past with chicken wings by Alton Brown and have been skeptical, but I’ll have to admit that it works well. The steaming cooks the chicken and renders fat out of the skin requiring deep frying for only a few minutes. The shorter time in oil produces a non-greasy, non-oily, crispy thin skin. (It was immediately after I threw out the steaming water that I realized that the chickeny/schmaltzy water would have made great rice. Next time!) After frying the chicken is tossed in a garlicky, gingery vinaigrette that Chang refers to as “octo vin”.
I found that the chicken, while cooked very nicely, didn’t stand up to the pungent vinaigrette. The entire process, from brine to the quick fry is designed to showcase the chicken itself. Chang writes that they use the expensive and flavorful poulet rouge in the restaurant, so the minimal technique makes sense. I was using commonly available Foster Farms Washington grown chicken, which is good but probably too subtle for this technique.
If I come across a poulet rouge or a poulet de Bresse I’ll give this recipe another shot. I may try the two step cooking with my regular fried chicken, and the octo vin will remain a staple in my fridge.
(Sorry about the bad picture. We were hungry!)
January 4th, 2010 at 2:02 PM
I’ve been doing this recipe with chicken wings lately. I think it works great and is way easier than than the chicken wing recipe in the book.
I’ve made them with fresh wings from 99 Ranch and with a bag of Costco frozen wings (not my preference but I needed a lot for a dinner party last night). Everyone we’ve served them to loves them, but honestly, I think the octo vin is doing most of the work. That stuff is genius.
Loving your Momofuku Week/Month. I did a Momofuku week in November when the book came out and could have easily done a month, as well. The bigger issue for me was that I wanted to share these recipes with friends/family, so I ended up throwing dinner parties just to cook for them. Thanksgiving became a Momofuku affair, as well, with bacon agedashi tofu, ginger scallion noodles, pork belly buns and fried chicken.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Sounds delicious. I’ll make the octo vin sauce, and maybe serve it with something else a little less finicky than steamed, then fried chicken.