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The Fried Chicken 100 · make it at home

Double-fried Korean fried chicken, plain and yangnyeom

1 hr 15 min · 4 (with beer)

What Seoul's chicken houses do: a thin potato-starch batter fried twice, which drives out moisture and leaves a glassy crust that stays crisp even under the sticky, sweet-hot gochujang glaze. Make half plain, half glazed, the way it's ordered.

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The real one

You need

• 1.2 kg (2 1/2 lb) chicken wings and drumettes (or bone-in thighs cut in half)
• 1 tsp fine salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp grated ginger, 2 garlic cloves grated
• For the batter: 100 g (3/4 cup) potato starch, 50 g (1/3 cup) plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 180 ml (3/4 cup) ice-cold water
• About 2 liters (2 quarts) neutral oil, for frying
• Yangnyeom glaze: 3 tbsp gochujang, 3 tbsp ketchup, 3 tbsp rice syrup or honey, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 3 garlic cloves minced, 1 tbsp water
• To finish: toasted sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, sliced scallions; pickled radish cubes (chicken-mu) on the side

How to make it

1. Season (15 min): Pat the chicken very dry. Toss with the salt, pepper, ginger and garlic and leave 15 minutes.
2. Batter (5 min): Whisk the starch, flour and baking powder, then whisk in the ice water until it's like thin pancake batter. Add the chicken and toss to coat thinly; let the excess drip off as you fry.
3. First fry (10 min a batch): Heat oil to 170°C (340°F). Fry the chicken in batches for 8 to 10 minutes until pale gold and cooked through. Drain on a rack and rest at least 10 minutes: this rest is what makes the second fry work.
4. Glaze (5 min, during the rest): Simmer all the glaze ingredients in a wide pan over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until glossy and bubbling. Keep it warm.
5. Second fry (3 to 4 min): Heat the oil to 190°C (375°F) and fry everything again for 3 to 4 minutes, until deep golden and audibly crisp. Drain well. Toss half in the warm glaze off the heat; leave half plain. Scatter the glazed half with sesame, peanuts and scallions, and serve with pickled radish and cold beer.

Tips

• For soy-garlic, swap the glaze for 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp rice syrup, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp mirin and 4 garlic cloves, simmered 3 minutes.
• Potato starch, not cornstarch, gives the glassy crust. Find it at Korean or Japanese grocers.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.