What is up, everyone? Today we're making Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings, one of my favorite dishes growing up. It was always this addictive treat that my dad would get me whenever we went to Chinatown or bring home from the restaurant. I've never made this before, so my dad's going to walk me through it, and then my family's going to grade me on how I did, so I'm kinda nervous. Let's see how it goes. This video is sponsored by Squarespace, an all-in-one platform I’ve been using for years to build online businesses. More on that later, but to start, my dad’s going to show me how to prepare the chicken wings. We're going to wash the chicken first. That's right, give them a quick wash. With clean water, we’re going to wash and squeeze the wings. Why do I need to do that? Squeeze out the myoglobin. Like this? There's not much because these wings are very good. My dad often uses water to rinse out any excess myoglobin in meat to get a more tender final product. Do I squeeze them while they're in the water, or do I lift them out and squeeze? It doesn't matter. Do we have to wash them? Of course, you can't guarantee that they're clean, so we always wash them at home. Pour the water out. This? In the sink. Paper towels. Get 3 sheets. Pat the wings dry. So if the chicken wing is wet, it won't fry up as well? Dry wings will also soak up flavor faster. Are bigger wings or smaller wings better? Moderately sized wings are best. How's this size? These are okay. Now, my dad will show us a trick to help the wings cook all the way through. Make two cuts across the back of the flat. This will make them cook through faster, and make the flavor penetrate better. Like these. Rather than holding it like this, it’ll be easier and safer to set the wings on the cutting board when doing this step, like my dad does here. Right here. Cut down with the knife here. Just two cuts? Across? Yeah, and again. Yeah, like that! Put it there. With these drumettes, use a sharp paring knife. Like this, jab it in. For the drumettes, we’ll pierce them twice with a small knife, once on each side, into the thickest part of the meat. For safety, we also recommend doing this step with the chicken on the cutting board and not like my dad here. It’s also important to keep a firm grip on the knife during this step. Notice how my dad grips the knife further up the handle and keeps his index finger on the side of the blade to guide it. As an example of what not to do, here’s me doing the same step. Just give it a quick jab. Gently pierce into it. You should not hold your knife like this, ever, and especially if you’re a beginner, do not do this do not do this while holding the drumette in the air. Or you could hurt yourself, like I almost did here… Hold it properly. Oh my gosh! This is dangerous... You're fine... Make sure to also have the sharp side of the knife facing away from the hand holding the chicken, like my dad is doing here. After these are all prepared, we'll season the wings. Next, we’ll create our marinade. Oh my gosh. Oh! Okay. In a large bowl, we’ll add 1/2 a tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, 1/2 a tsp of white pepper powder, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/2 a tsp of dark soy sauce, and 1 tbsp of cooking wine. All right! Then mix together. Mix it up. Then mix the chicken wings in. In we go! We’ll put all the chicken into the bowl, then mix into the marinade. Massage them with your hands too. Yes! As you mix with your hands, squeeze the chicken so that the marinade actually seeps into the meat. Once the chicken is marinated, it’s time to cut up some ingredients. Green onions? Chop them. Split them in half first. Yeah! Okay! Yes, like that. You can just cut the last bits two at a time to make it easier. Right? I don't need to, but it's helpful for you. I can just chop them all at once. Shade! Now, we’ll chop up some shallots. Cut it into slices. Yes, good! Yeah! Oh gosh! Next up: garlic. Smash it, yeah. Okay, that's good. Now I peel! We’ll peel and mince the garlic. Dad's so fast. I can hear the Spongebob Three hours later... Like this? Just go chop chop chop. We just picked these red chilis from the yard! These are spicy. Of course, if you don't want it as spicy, you can use less or omit them altogether. We’ll cut the chilis into small pieces. Okay! That's it? Now, the sweet peppers! Yes, cut those off. We’ll first cut off all the stems. Then cut in half lengthwise. Take out the seeds. Are these necessary? You can leave them out. For the video, it's good for making the dish colorful. One cut to halve each side, then dice into small pieces. Yeah, good! Like that. They can be big pieces. Like the green onions, just cut them down somehow. Small pieces, right? My dad first cuts them into strips, then rotates to chop into small pieces. Now, let’s prepare our simple dry seasoning. Salt first. 1 tsp of garlic salt. 1/2 tsp of salt. Scant 1/2, not a big 1/2. 1/2 tsp of white pepper. More. Okay, good! Enough. Mix it up. Is white pepper necessary? Yeah! And garlic salt. We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com along with step-by-step instructions and video clips to guide you as you make the recipe at home. With our seasoning mixed, we’ll prepare to coat the chicken. 3 tbsp of cornstarch. That's more than a tbsp. Undercompensate. Okay. 3 tbsp of flour. Should I add more cornstarch? Add a bit more cornstarch. They were very generous tablespoons! Add another 1/2 tbsp. Okay, good! Since I added too much flour, I added a bit more cornstarch since we want equal parts of each here. Then we’ll mix to incorporate them. How would you grade my cutting? 60. 60?! Mix it all the way to the bottom. You have to flip the stuff at the bottom. Wait wait wait, let me do it. Flip it. Don't push it like that, flip it up and around. Oh, like this? Straighten the spoon out. Flip it here. Oh, got it. Okay. You can also mix with a fork like my dad here. If you used only flour, it'd be too soft. If you used only cornstarch, it'd be too hard. So if you mix the two, it's a good balance. Now, we’re ready to coat our wings. Use your dry hand to squeeze. This is your wet hand, this is your dry hand. Coat it in flour. First, we’ll coat the wings in the starch flour with one hand, which will be our wet hand. Once coated, use the other hand, our dry hand, to squeeze the chicken so the coating sticks firmly. After coating with flour, use this hand to squeeze. Coat it more, there's not enough flour. Squeeze? Yeah, squeeze it tightly and put it there. Enough, that's enough squeezing. Do each wing one at a time. Dry flour, not wet flour. Remember to not use your wet hand to squeeze the wing. The coating will stick to your wet hand, but it won't stick to your dry hand. Squeezing that flour tightly on will make the crust nice and crispy. That flour's wet, so we'll move some fresh flour in. I got a D on my cutting skills. Hi, Maya! I think we all know. There's room for improvement. Hi, Maya! Hi, Dad! You want to learn how to do this one day? Oh, you squeeze it into there! Gotta get it crispy, man! I think that's a problem with a lot of mine. Maya! Hi, Dad! Hi cutie pie! She says... "B+!" "Can you use other cuts of chicken?" Then you couldn't call it Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings, son! You can do Salt & Pepper Chicken Breasts or Drumsticks. You can do Salt & Pepper Fish, too. You can Salt & Pepper this! Chicken wings are one of America’s favorite foods of all time, and a popular and delicious way of preparing them is by frying them. If you’re not familiar with the origins of fried chicken as a dish, check out our friend Andong’s in-depth video of its history. Surprisingly, the popularity of chicken wings in particular is relatively recent with many overlooking the cut due to its lack of meat or needing to eat around the bones. However, chicken wings feature some of the most tender and flavorful dark meat on the chicken with the added benefit of being the perfect size for easy cooking. Today, our salt and pepper wings or ziu jim gai jik in Cantonese, feature the ever-popular Chinese salt and pepper seasoning which, in my opinion, works well with almost any kind of protein, such as pork, squid, or tofu. With the wings all coated, we’re ready to break out our stove and pot to fry them. We’ll turn the heat to high and pour the oil into the pot. Okay! Add all of the oil. This is... Corn oil. Pour it out the corner. Add about half of that. Enough to cover the wings. Let us see how hot this is. It's at 220°F. LoWah from Patreon asked, How do you fry the chicken wings but not too oily? Fry it at high heat for a less greasy result. If you fry it at lower heat, things get oily because they soak up all the oil. Fry things at the appropriate temperature. Fry the drumettes first and take them out, then do the wings. It's easier to fry that way. When the oil reaches 300°F (149°C), we can put in the drumettes, since they’ll take longer to cook. You can put them in. Put them in. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can use my dad’s method of seeing if the oil is hot enough. He drops a small piece of a wet vegetable, like onion or pepper, into the oil. When the piece starts to float and bubbles are coming up all around it, the oil is ready for frying. The drumettes are bigger. So now it's 290°F. Turning down the heat. Medium heat? Yes, that's fine. If you fry it immediately on high heat, the crust will burn before the inside can cook. For this first fry, we’ll try to keep our oil temperature at around 300°F (149°C). Stir? Just flip them. Look at that! Put it back in. What does stirring do? Flipping it helps it cook evenly. It fries more evenly. It's already golden. We're frying them twice. The first fry cooks them through, and the second fry crisps them up. You can turn the heat up a bit. Medium heat. How do you know it's done? Check the color, see if it's golden. Scoop them up. When the meat floats to the surface, you know it's cooked. That's basically true for everything you fry. After about 5 minutes of frying or when the drumettes are floating and have turned golden brown, we’ll take them out. Now we fry these? That's right. Okay! Yes, put them in. Then we’ll put in the wings. Wait wait wait! I'm just taking a look to see if they're done. Let me do it. If you do it, I won't learn. Give them a flip. These cook very quickly. Put it back in. Okay, those are done. Take them out now? Yes, they're ready. Wow. That was fast! After just 2 minutes of frying the wings, we can take them out. After the first round, heat the oil back up, and fry them again. Frying them again will make the crust crispier. When the chicken is out, we’ll heat the oil on high up to 350°F (177°C). Then we can put the drumettes back into the oil for a second fry. A lot of people asked, "How do you get the perfect crispiness without overcooking it or undercooking it?" Check the temperature of the oil and the frying time. When they start to turn golden, scoop them out. Then, fry them a second time. But they start to turn golden really quickly. That's when you scoop them up. Drumettes take longer to fry because the meat is thicker. These flats are faster. Do you have to keep the oil at 300°F (149°C)? Yes, it's best to keep the oil at 300°F (149°C). Add the rest. Gently add them in. After frying the drumettes for about 30 seconds, we’ll add in the wings too. Do you do anything special to make sure the chicken is really juicy? Don't fry them for too long. If your frying oil is hot enough at 300°F (149°C), it fries and tightens the crust, and the tight crust keeps the juiciness inside. The second fry also fries the crust and helps keep the juices inside. If you take your time on lower heat, by the time both the crust and the chicken are cooked, all the juices will have leaked out. Take out the big pieces. After another 30 seconds, we’ll remove the drumettes. The oil is everywhere, son. Sorry! Are there any more? Six pieces total. Oh no, I can't find them! Where'd they go? Here it is. Okay. One more. Where did it go? I'm turning the heat off. Yes! Turning the heat off. Then we’ll turn off the stove and take out the wings also. All done, see? "What do you do with the leftover oil?" Use it to cook! Does he filter it, or what does he do? Strain out any debris. Now we’ll replace our pot with a wok and put all the pieces together in a stir-fry. High heat? That's not necessary. Medium heat? Yes, that's good. 2 spoonfuls of oil. We’ll add 2 tbsp of the oil we just used to the wok. Garlic. Should I swirl the oil? No need! We’ll add the garlic. Shallots. Then the shallots. Those green onions. Just half. Keep the rest for final garnish. Chilis. Chilis? Okay. We’ll also add half of the green onions and chilis How long do we stir-fry for? Until fragrant? Yes, until they're aromatic. When everything is fragrant or after about 30-40 seconds, we can add the sweet peppers. Add those in too. How long do we stir-fry these for? These are very quick. Just stir-fry them a bit. After stir-frying for another 30-40 seconds, we can add all of our chicken. All of it? Yes, all of it. These too. Flip everything from the very bottom with your spatula. Yeah, good! Flip it. Is this okay? It's good! Okay. "How do you get it extra crispy?" When you're coating the chicken, if you have a heavier coat of flour, the crust will be thicker and extra crispy, and stay crispy longer. No matter how crispy you cook it, you want to eat it quickly, if it sits out longer than 10 minutes, it won't be crispy anymore. The inside is juicy, right? It'll slowly get the crust wet and not crispy. Patty from Patreon asked, "Do you have any suggestions on how to keep it crispy when bringing it to a potluck?" After frying them, cover them with foil and poke holes into the foil. Don't cover them tightly, or there'll be condensation inside. Poke holes for ventilation so the steam can escape. If the steam can leave, it won't be as humid inside. If the container is not humid, the wings can stay crispy. Maybe, if you arrive at the party, and you want to make them crispier, can you put them in the air fryer? That's what I do for leftover fried chicken, I just air fry it for a few minutes at 400°F (204°C). Once the chicken and aromatics are all mixed, or after about 30 seconds, we’ll turn the heat to low and add our seasoning. Low heat? Slowly? Don't dump it all in at once! I'm not. Sprinkle a bit on, keep stir-frying. Stir-fry it more first. Add a bit. Yeah, good, good! Okay! You wouldn't use black pepper, right? I used white pepper today, but you can use black pepper if you like. If you like black pepper, go for it. White pepper looks nicer. We usually use white pepper. When you’re adding the seasoning, make sure to continue stirring the chicken with the spatula from the bottom as you add a bit of seasoning at a time, which is something my dad does better here. I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our wonderful Patreon supporters for helping bring this video to life. If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly, head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more! When the seasoning is evenly coated, we can turn off the heat and plate. Heat off? Sure. Whoo! Now let’s see how my family grades me. All right! So. Dad's is on the left. We'll eat Dad's first. That's the 100 out of 100. Eat Daddy's first, right? So good. We always have this at parties. You can't go wrong with this at a party. Okay, we're going to taste mine. Good job, Randy! About the same! Yeah! Really good! Okay, now you're going to grade me. Okay, out of 100? Out of 100. Randy's grade, in 3... 2... 1! Kat gave me 95! Mom gave me 99! Dad gave me 95! Hong Doy, say 99! 99! Wow! Yay! When you were making it, it wasn't as beautiful. Not as consistent, all the way around crunchy. But it tasted great. I give you 99, that means including points for effort. Dad's wings taste more evenly flavored. Your taste a little more spotty. Daddy’s crispy outer layer almost covers the whole thing, but you have some empty spots. Thanks, Mom! You deserve it! You did a good job. Everyone cooks it like this. If you follow my instructions, you can't really go wrong, right? You could have done better squeezing the flour, son. As I mentioned, I’m really excited that Squarespace is sponsoring this video, because before Made With Lau, I spent 10 years building and consulting online businesses. Of all the website platforms, Squarespace is by far the easiest to use. Right out of the gate, it offers the most beautiful designs that actually convert customers. True story, in 2019, I was consulting my wedding venue on how to increase their revenue. Part of this strategy involved completely redesigning their website with Squarespace, leading to a 10x increase in inquiries and bookings compared to their old website. Squarespace started out as website builder, but it’s evolved into a full suite of tools to help you run a variety of businesses, like an e-Commerce solution to manage your own store, Squarespace Scheduling where clients can book appointments with you, Member areas to sell your own course, and built-in SEO to help your content get more organic reach. You can visit squarespace.com to play around on a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to squarespace.com/madewithlau to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings! I hope you all enjoy it! Look over there. Basketball. Basketball! Basketball!! 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