Why isn’t chicken kare-kare a thing? Probably because chicken doesn’t have as much fat as beef or pork, which adds that lip-smacking richness to the sauce. And because kare-kare takes time and effort to make, most people reserve it for special occasions. If you’re out to impress, you’ll want to do it with beef and oxtail—using chicken, in comparison, feels like a half-assed kare-kare for an in-law you don't like.
Unless you’re making crispy Korean-style chicken wings with kare-kare dip.
Instead of a glaze which can get your wings soggy, these deep-fried chicken wings come with a rich kare-kare sauce for dipping. The surprising pair will remind you of satay, the Southeast Asian street food of grilled meat skewers served with peanut sauce.
We adapted Serious Eats’ excellent Korean chicken recipe, which does a few things differently to ensure the crispiest results possible:
- Wet batter tends to slip off raw chicken. Dredging and drying your wings in flour and cornstarch gives the wet batter a dry surface to cling to.
- A vodka-based wet batter forms a thin, glassy crust that’s light yet crispy—the kind Korean fried chicken is famous for. The alcohol inhibits gluten formation, keeping the batter from turning heavy and chewy.
