Fish Sauce Chicken Wings (Better Than it Sounds)

Eww!

Hi Everyone!

My dad wanted a little say in this blog of mine, so that he could put some of his "comedian style" recipes on here.

A few years back, the Food Dude's Wife (FDW) and I sat down to eat at Portland's Pok Pok restaurant. It was one of those places where one look at the menu and you think to yourself, "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore." To the standard diner it is a complete leap of faith. It was with this feeling of intimidation that we sheepishly looked at the waiter and asked, "what's good?" Without pause he said, "You have to get the fish sauce wings."

Now I like chicken wings as much as the next middle-aged male, but when you put the words "fish sauce" out front, well let's just say I was thinking perhaps I should have stopped at Applebee's. But let me just say this recipe will convert the cynics, guaranteed. And if your friends are still asking for celery sticks and blue cheese dressing, you need to find new friends.

Adapted from the recipe in Food & Wine, who coaxed the recipe out of Pok Pok owner Andy Ricker. I have simplified the recipe to avoid the inconvenience (and in my case fire hazard) involved with deep frying.

Fish Sauce Chicken Wings

• 1/2 cup Asian fish sauce
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar (I'm told a food processor can turn regular "pretty cool" sugar into "superfine" with just a few pulses)
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
• 3 pounds chicken drummettes or split chicken wings
• 1 Tbsp. hot chili garlic sauce (like Sriracha), optional

Combine fish sauce with sugar and garlic in a bowl or re-sealable plastic bag. Plug your nose. Add chicken wings and marinate at least an hour in the refrigerator, or preferably overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange wings on a broiler pan, (saving marinade) and bake for 50 minutes, turning once or twice.

Once you have pulled the wings from the oven, heat the reserved marinade and the chili hot sauce in a saucepan over medium heat until the marinade boils and eventually turns syrupy, 5-10 minutes.

Pour over wings to coat well.

Ha ha ha. Isn't my dad hilarious. Chances are you are rolling on the floor laughing so hard you're crying by now. Oh well. Good Luck!