food blog: the world's greatest wings, korean style

first of all, let me say that i love Hawaii. i have great memories of that place from my navy time, and my time over there working for mare island naval shipyard. yeah, the bikinis were nice, the sunsets lovely, the water warm and inviting. but that's not why i love hawaii. i love hawaii for the food. even more than watching all of those well filled bikinis wrapped around all those nubile haolie girls broiling in the tropical sun. and i didn't say that just because i know my wife reads my blog, either.

think about the cuisine available. you have european (the portuguese are a big part of hawaiian "culture"), asian, pacific islander, and who knows what others are mixed into that melting pot. i posted a recipe for huli-huli chicken" a while ago, and it has katsup in it. so the different cuisines are slowly but surely borrowing the best from the others and fusing it all together to make some of the finest eats in the known world. thai food in hawaii isn't like thai food anywhere else. same with chinese. or korean.

now, one of my fondest memories of my last couple of work trips to hawaii was a hole in the wall korean place over by the ala moana shopping center. it's name was Chicken Alice's. and alice made the best hot chicken wings i've ever eaten. the best. they were spicy and flavorful, and i couldn't get enough of them.

a friend of mine knew how much i liked Chicken Alice's wings, and sent me the recipe in a link to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on Chicken Alice.

these wings are so good that it's almost impossible to describe them. part of the appeal is the heat, obviously. but a large part of the flavor is from the kimchee sauce, with its ingredients (like fish sauce) adding a unique and incredible flavor to an old favorite.

Here is the recipe as found in the article mentioned above:

Chicken Alice's Wings

• 5 pounds chicken wings


• Vegetable oil for deep frying (Wesson brand preferred)


» Batter:

• 1/3 cup Parks brand kim chee sauce


• 1 tablespoon minced garlic


• 2 tablespoons salt


• 2-1/2 cups flour


• 2 cups water, or more, as needed

Rinse and dry chicken. Cut off and discard wing tips. Cut through joint to separate drummettes from other half of wing.

To make batter: Combine kim chee sauce, garlic, salt and flour. Add water gradually, enough to make a thick batter, about the consistency of pancake batter.

Add chicken pieces to batter, mix well and marinate in refrigerator 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Deep-fry chicken pieces about 10 minutes, until chicken rises to surface and coating is deep brown.


so where do you find kimchee sauce? it's no problem in this area, since we have asian superstore markets that carry EVERYTHING you can imagine. but if you don't have one nearby, i found the following on the web. i can't imagine Aunty Soon's sauce is much different than Park's. Aunty Soon's kimchee sauce

if you like hot wings, and you are willing to try new flavors, i strongly recommend giving these a whirl. you'll be naming your first born after me if you do. they really are that good.



as always, if you try this recipe, or it inspires you to try something different, please let me know how it turned out. i'm always looking for fresh and clever ideas to improve my own cooking skills and recipes.

for a complete list of my online recipes, follow the link here