Get ready for wings with a serious glaze of glory. These Nagoya-style tebasaki are baked until deeply golden and crisp, then brushed and tossed in a sticky-sweet, savory glaze made with miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, garlic and gochujang. Finish with toasted sesame seeds, crack open a cold beer and keep the napkins handy. These wings mean business.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes
1 Tbsp aluminum-free baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp gochujang
1 Tbsp garlic, finely minced or grated
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp miso
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
1/3 cups mirin
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Completely dry wings with paper towels. Moisture is the enemy of crisp skin. Toss in large bowl with baking powder and kosher salt until every piece is evenly, thinly coated with no white clumps. Arrange wings on a wire rack on a baking sheet lined with parchment and refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 250°F. Bake at 250°F for 30 minutes on the lower-middle and upper-middle racks. The wings won’t brown yet. This stage melts out the subcutaneous fat so the skin can crisp later.
- Raise the oven to 425°F without removing the pans. Bake 40 minutes or until wings are deep golden and blistered.
- While the wings bake, combine sake and mirin in a small saucepan and simmer 2 minutes. Whisk in soy sauce, sugar, miso, gochujang and garlic. Simmer over medium-low, stirring often, until reduced by about half and syrupy enough to coat a spoon, 8–12 minutes. Reserve 1/3 of the glaze.
- With 10 minutes of baking left, brush wings generously with glaze, return to oven, and bake 10 minutes until the coating is tacky and lacquered. Watch closely at the end — the sugar and miso can scorch.
- Transfer to a bowl, toss with reserved glaze, then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve immediately, ideally with cold beer and a stack of napkins