Simply Ming

MING: Hey, Ming Tsai here, welcome to Simply Ming at Home.

Today, it's all about wings.

We're gonna do the traditional Buffalo wings in a deep fryer, and then we're gonna do oven-roasted soy Dijon wings.

And since we have a bunch of hot oil, we're gonna make you a veggie tempura as well.

Starting with a lemonade-infused cocktails-- one, just a lemonade sparkling, and two, a shandy that's lemonade and beer.

It's all coming up right now on Simply Ming.

Simply Ming is brought to you by Subaru of New England, proudly celebrating 50 years of love.

Authorized retailers at SubaruOfNewEngland.com.

Here's to the next 50 years and beyond.

MING: All right, Henry.

All right.

MING: Fill up those glasses, both with ice, please.

Okay.

MING: Okay, I'll do one, and then I'll start, and then you can do the second one.

Feel free.

MING: So... A shandy.

A shandy, traditionally, it's probably the first thing I ever drank.

I was in Hong Kong and came in a can, it was probably 3% alcohol, but it had a lemony flavor.

It didn't taste like booze because back then none of us like the flavor of booze, right?

And I really liked it.

And I've had it with the... people can put all types of sparkling citrusy bubbly waters in them.

I decided to make my own.

And this right here, simply six lemons juiced, right?

Fresh lemons, and I just take a half cup of sugar and I add enough water to melt the sugar completely.

Right, I didn't cook this, because I want to keep the freshness of lemon, then I added that simple syrup just with the melted sugar into this, and this is the base of my shandy.

For the beer, I use a good lager, I do about one-fifth, and then a good lager.

For Henry, and Henry, grab yourself a sparkling out of the drawer there.

Can do.

MING: Henry is going to get about one quarter, because I know he likes it a little bit sweeter.

One of the easiest drinks ever.

Just open your beer.

And yes, there's ice, but I like it because the ice keeps it nice and cold.

Shall I pour?

MING: Yes, sir.

Pour away.

Can do.

MING: And since we can, we will take a lemon and we'll do a couple nice thin garnish slices like this.

Henry gets one.

Oh, thank you.

MING: I get one, rub the rim like we know how to, all the way around.

Oh my lemon fell perfectly in, look at that.

That's like a fit made in heaven.

Wow.

MING: I'm gonna stir, because I like to have my lemonade stirred in with my beer.

How about you, Henry?

Yeah.

I think I like a little incorporation.

MING: And I'll give the stir there.

Agitation.

Nice.

MING: Cheers.

Cheers.

MING: To shandies, cheers.

It's so light and refreshing, and this is a great thing for kids.

You're trying to lower their sugar, there's all those sugar beverages out there.

This is much lower sugar.

Of course, more sugar than just lemon wedge in a sparkling, but kids will actually drink that, right?

Yeah, for sure.

MING: And for us adults, it's a very light, refreshing way, especially in the summertime months.

All right.

I like how you say kids, like I'm five years old.

(laughter) MING: So, we're gonna make a traditional hot sauce.

You can use any hot sauce.

There's one in particular I love, but before we get to the sauces, I want to get these wings frying, right?

Just plain old chicken wings, guys.

You can buy them connected and cut them in half.

I'm gonna put about a dozen of these into hot oil.

Thank you.

So, I'm going to... this is on medium, so I'm gonna put one wing lightly and just see if it bubbles at all.

All right, so it's not quite hot enough, right?

So I'm gonna turn this on high.

But what I'm gonna do is go ahead and put a wing in because then I can hear the sound.

So when it starts... actually, it's not bad.

But what you really want is a really high boil.

So I'm just gonna let this sit here.

And it's okay that these wings, these are ice cold wings.

So it is fine to pull them out for ten minutes to let it come to room temp, right?

So these are actually coming along.

So this is, you can see, there's some motion here.

So since there's some motion, I'm gonna go ahead and get these in now.

Do not fill your fryer more than halfway full, right?

Because oil expands when it gets hot.

And of course fat comes off of these wings and you just don't want to at all risk the pot boiling over, all right?

I like these wings.

I like the wings, which is the interior one, right?

Not the drumstick.

I think they have more... more fun eating, because it's double bones.

And I actually like pulling both bones out at one time.

All right, so there's a baker's dozen.

So, we're gonna let these go until they're GB and D. They're gonna take at least 15 to 20 minutes.

All right, again, these wings I'm gonna leave here and let them come to room temp.

Of course this flame is off, all right?

So, let these things go.

What we have is store-bought hot sauce, right?

I know people that make their own.

And the key here: it's two ingredients.

It's butter and hot sauce.

That's it.

I'm gonna get Henry on some prep, because the second wings we're gonna do actually is a baked, as I said.

So here's some fresh thyme, Henry.

Nice.

MING: I want you to take that thyme off and kind of just mince it.

Normally we would go into a blender, so you don't need to spend all day on it... Okay.

MING: But I don't want any stem, all right?

So just strip it from the stem?

MING: Exactly.

Now what I'm gonna do is just grab this little pan.

And you want to stir the wings every, like, three or four minutes.

I'm going to heat my hot sauce.

In classic French, and then we're gonna add pieces of the butter and whisk it until it's super nice and smooth, all right?

(pilot clicking) I'm just cutting up the butter here, guys, because, again, once that hot sauce is hot, I'm going to put this in-- it's two sticks of butter.

Yeah?

That's a lot of butter.

By the way, you don't eat all this, right?

I like to make lots of sauce.

I'm gonna add it in, and then with a whisk, gonna whisk it in.

So I'm going to check out my wings here first.

I'm just stirring...

I'll just show you one, guys.

So they're not even close to being fully cooked, right?

So, I'm gonna keep stirring these around.

And I have my hot sauce here.

All right.

So, just to start to simmer, that's what I'm looking for.

Take a couple of pieces of butter, just whisk it in.

Right, melt it in.

Take another piece here.

Whisk it in.

You could easily use one of those sticks and you can add all the butter and just buzz it.

But this feels more classic French.

(speaking French)... chicken wings.

You're you're trying to cosplay as Jacques Ppin.

MING: You don't want to add it all at once.

You see how it was a dark red.

Now it's turning a little bit more pale, but that's good because this is a pretty hot sauce that has a good little vinegar kick to it.

By adding all this butter, it just smooths it out and adds a lusciousness.

So I'm gonna add the rest of this butter.

And this sauce is basically done.

I just turned off the flame guys, right?

So that's a good-looking Buffalo sauce there.

Just when all the butter is melted, that is good to go.

All right, check out these wings.

They still need some color.

These are almost fully cooked, but obviously I want to get them super crispy.

The first time I went to the Anchor Bar, which is reputed to be the creator of the Buffalo wings in Buffalo, New York.

They...

I was at the bar, I ordered wings, you know, and they actually said, "Hey, chef," so they knew I was in the business.

20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes.

I'm thinking they forgot the wings.

I'm like, "Excuse me, are my wings coming up?"

Goes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah chef, we just gotta cook them."

And I watched him put them in.

He fried them for about 35 minutes.

And I'm like, "These are gonna be so overcooked."

They weren't, they were perfect, and they were perfect because the last wing in that dozen was still crisp.

So they crisp them up so much that even with the sauce, when you get to the 12th one, which takes, you know, eight, ten minutes, still crispy.

All right, so I'm gonna put these over here, Henry.

All right.

MING: So Henry's doing some thyme.

I'm going to take some garlic here.

Hey, nice knife, Henry.

Oh, thank you.

MING: And mince some garlic.

We're actually gonna go to a blender.

We're gonna emulsify a marinade.

And what I want to do to get this going, is I'm going to get my wings going first.

So, to get the wings going, there's nothing on these wings, guys, all right?

I have a hot sheet tray, 400 degrees.

I'm just gonna get these cooking, because I know they're gonna take 15-plus minutes and then I'm gonna slather on this great soy Dijon marinade and keep roasting them.

(wings sizzling) All right, you can hear that sizzle.

That's so key to get this thing going.

With no oil?

MING: No oil.

Because there's plenty of fat in wings.

So that's now gonna go for about five minutes.

I'm gonna finish my marinade and I'm gonna get it and then mix the marinade.

If you put the marinade on a little too early, it can burn.

All right, so, Hen, you know what?

Stay there.

We're pretty good here.

You have enough thyme for me here.

Okay.

MING: So, I have my garlic and my thyme.

Okay.

What I'm gonna do is actually... Go to a blender cup.

So garlic and the thyme.

Going to add to this some Dijon mustard.

I love Dijon.

I like Dijon with french fries.

I know, some people think that's weird.

So much better than ketchup.

So much better.

Good amount of Dijon.

Got good spice for that.

I'm going to add to that some tamari.

Give me soy sauce.

All right, little tamari.

I didn't add any salt, as you notice, Henry, to the wings.

Right, so there's all my salt.

We're gonna add a little acid.

A little rice vinegar.

Accentuates the Dijon.

Okay, I don't need salt, but I do need freshly cracked black pepper.

I'm gonna grab that.

And a lot.

If you have the thing that I can go to coarse, which this is, go to town, guys.

Just say the ABCs.

A, B, C... D, E, F. This is a marathon.

MING: One, two, three, do, re, mi, A, B, C. Do you know what song that was from, Henry?

One that's copyrighted?

MING: One that's copyrighted?

Yeah, I didn't...

I'm not selling it, Henry.

All right, then we're gonna buzz this and we're gonna add some oil.

Come with me, Henry, to the blender.

So... Nice and slow.

(blender whirring) This is grapeseed oil.

Put that in.

I'll put this on a little bit higher.

(whirring grows louder) Okay, I lied, a lot higher.

That's a lot higher.

Don't need it quite that high.

Can go one speed more.

(whirring decreases, then increases) (whirring stops) Boom.

Nice.

MING: Nice emulsified, check it out.

See that nice emulsified Dijon?

So Dijon, garlic, thyme.

Go ahead and pour it out.

You can see what it looks like.

Look at that.

This is where a blender cup is great, because a blender could really emulsify it.

So, as you noticed, everything went in except the oil.

While we're on this, because I'm doing veggie tempura as well, I'm gonna make two dipping sauces for veggie tempura.

The first one is gonna be the soy Dijon.

This is a vegan cream cheese made from tofu.

I'm gonna take two tablespoons of the marinade I just made.

And this is just gonna be an awesome soy garlic Dijon dipping sauce for the veggie tempura.

Right, that's one.

And then two... (wings sizzling) I have this bad boy.

Let me grab another spoon.

And this guy... (utensils clattering) I'm going to add to this cream cheese.

Again, vegan cream cheese.

Now this isn't vegan anymore, right, so know that, because there's butter.

So you may have someone that wants to eat veggie tempura, that's not vegan.

Well, now you've got a delicious Buffalo sauce but has a nice thickness to it that you can dip your veggie tempura.

Might also be good for other dip applications-- chips.

MING: Absolutely.

Chips, crudit, anything that you want to dip.

I mean, as you know, Henry, everything in the world is better dipped.

Everything.

Right?

Okay, so, I'm gonna do one more prep, and this is just to make a veggie tempura, which is so simple.

Here we have rice flour.

We have a little paprika, a little garlic powder, about, what, half a teaspoon.

Okay, we're gonna whisk into this just a little bit of sparkling water, club soda, whatever you have.

Traditional tempura has egg.

I like sparkling water because it is super light and it's just easier to make.

I add the paprika for color and a little bit of spice and I add the garlic powder obviously for flavor.

We'll add salt to this after you fry.

Just like french fries, you don't salt your fries until after they come out of the fryer.

See this, that's a pancake batter consistency.

That's what you're looking for-- pancake batter.

Everyone knows what pancake batter looks like, right?

So that's done.

No lumps though, right?

MING: No lumps.

I'm gonna do some zucchini planks because I think planks are really fun to eat.

Just make sure that they're the same thickness.

Okay, that's gonna get all tempura-ed.

I'm gonna take some onions and we're gonna do some big, fat onion rings like this.

Okay.

Why didn't I take the skin off?

Well, because I'm gonna take these rings all apart, right?

So like this, take the outer ring off like that and then boom, boom, boom, boom.

Oh, nice.

MING: Like my sound effects?

Yes, state of the art.

(Ming chuckles) MING: Then, last but not least, which I love to do, it's better with preserved lemon.

But if you slice lemons super thin-- these are washed-- super thin like that, they're really good tempura-ed.

All right.

Oops, missed.

And you really want a sharp knife for this, right?

MING: Yes, you do.

So this gets tempura-ed too.

All right, first, we're gonna see how these bad boys are going.

Oh yeah, see that?

Now we got some color on these wings.

Okay, we're going to take our Dijon marinade now.

Okay, open this up.

All right, see that?

So they already cooked a little bit.

So I think I'm gonna do a reversal here because it's just going to be a little bit easier.

I'm gonna do a little thing unconventional, which is okay.

Whoa!

MING: Into the blender cup.

Why?

Because I have extra marinade in the blender cup, right?

And I'm not worried about it.

I'm gonna wash the blender cup in the dishwasher.

And don't worry, guys, I'm not going to blend my chicken wings.

(Henry laughs) I was wondering for a second.

MING: But here, because it's nice and tall, when I pour my marinade in, it will start up high and then go all the way to the bottom.

You know what?

Maybe we should blender this.

I, I don't know about that.

MING: Okay.

And by doing that, look at these.

Now, look how well coated they are.

Oh yeah.

Smart.

MING: I think we just invented... "What do you do with a blender cup?"

"Oh, chicken wings."

"Really?"

This is the advanced techniques.

This is your, this is your engineering degree.

MING: I'm giving you my secrets, guys.

These are my secrets.

But look, but I like how it gathers at the bottom and the very last wing has all the marinade just like the very top one.

And we can add a little bit more marinade like that.

Boom.

So now this gets cooked for at least another ten minutes.

All right.

Now these have seen raw chicken, right?

So into the oil.

Cook it.

Sterilized through heat.

MING: Ten seconds, will be fine.

I am gonna cook...

I am washing my bowl over here with soap and water because I can't throw my bowl into the... hot water, right?

Always hot water.

Okay.

Then, with my sterilized tongs (Henry chuckles) and my clean bowl, we will take out my wings.

What I'm gonna do now is use a spider so I can take more than one wing out at a time.

That... (wings clatter) You hear them?

You can hear how crispy wings are.

Listen to this.

(wings clatter) That is a crispy wing.

Okay.

So here, clean my board up this little second here.

Here we have the sauce that I'm going to whisk just one more time.

Okay, you do not need anything to mix.

You pour this, listen to this crackle.

(wings crackling) Ooh, it's so subtle.

MING: Right?

So is that... what exactly is that sound?

Is that the sound of the heat of the wings?

MING: That's the sound of the hot... the hot wings getting coated.

You can hear when wings are crunchy, right?

(wing clattering) There's no way these wings aren't crunchy.

Like little pebbles.

MING: Just... yeah, exactly.

You have to hear your chicken wings, right?

And they need to be coated completely, like that.

Now let me grab my tongs.

And here we take our wings.

That's what I'm talking about.

Look at these wings, guys.

Wow.

MING: Right?

Oh, my God.

Right?

That's what wings should look like.

I have this sauce, so why not like that?

(bowl clattering) That is amazing.

MING: We've got some crudit here, I like my veg.

I put celery, I put carrots, I'll put cucumbers.

Okay, guys.

Last but not least, guys, this will be quick, Henry.

I got my tempura, right?

Well, let me... see, the tempura got... it's okay, see how it got a little thick there?

Then I'm gonna add a little bit more sparkling soda water.

Mm-hmm.

MING: Because what you don't want is thick, gloppy tempura.

Right?

Nice and light.

MING: You want it light, right?

Look how light this is.

It barely... Watch this, watch this, watch the spider there, Hen.

It's a very light tempura.

Right?

Watch the lemon's gonna splatter a little bit because there's juice in lemon, guys, right?

So be careful when you put the lemons down.

Okay, I'll put a couple more.

Let's get one more of these.

All right, we'll let those go.

Other wing.

Oh yeah, look at those guys.

Oh, that color.

MING: Those are getting there, all right.

So, I'm gonna go just literally spread these out.

Those smell amazing.

MING: Doesn't that smell great?

All right, these just need about five minutes.

So what I'm gonna do, because we can, because we're gonna go high broil.

All right, look at these.

Check out the tempura, guys.

Look how nice and light that looks.

All right, see this, guys?

See that?

Wow.

MING: Super light, super quick.

Just like that.

And we had the oil already going, why not?

Why not just do that?

So, to this one, I'm gonna go ahead and do a double platter.

This is just a little bit of veggie tempura, nice and light.

Look at that.

I love how that zucchini looks.

And then to this...

I will season it because, remember, I didn't put any seasoning.

And if I was at a restaurant, I'd be like, okay, you get this sauce and you get this sauce.

Et voila.

And that's how you can serve a nice veggie tempura.

And now last, but not least... Let's see how we did here, Henry.

Oh yeah, baby.

Oh, wow.

MING: That's what we're talking about, okay?

That's beautiful color.

MING: So for those who do not want to hassle with a fryer, oven-roasted wings work just as awesome.

All righty, there we go.

Whoo!

So, we did traditional wings.

We did our soy Dijon wings.

We did veggie tempura.

And I have more, which I'm going to get right now to make a little bit more plentiful because we can.

And, Henry, talk about the cocktail.

What did we do there?

Uh, the cocktail was the shandy, right?

And the... well, I'd say lemonade light, right?

MING: Tempura needs a little second longer.

Okay, and we did the veggie tempura.

And I'm excited to try these soy Dijon.

Here, go in, Henry.

Maybe try these first because those are too hot to eat, to be honest.

Can do.

MING: I'm gonna try one of these.

Again, wings should be crispy.

Mmm, mmm.

Try that one, Henry.

Let's get in.

MING: Mm, mm, mmm.

So you said there's the there's the wings team versus the drums team.

So you said you were on the wings team, right?

I'm much more on this team.

The twofer... Flats.

MING: Than that, because I like the meat in between the bones.

Mm.

MING: How's that?

Mmm, not bad at all.

Solid classic.

MING: We're going to keep eating.

We have to go.

Pleasure winging it with you.

(laughter) So funny.

You should stick to your day job.

I hope you guys go cook some wings.

Make yourself a light drink for the summer.

Get a shandy.

And as always, peace... ...and good eating.

MING: Hey, very good.

Thanks.

MING: See you soon.

Ciao.

For more information on Simply Ming, including upcoming guests and more, visit us online at ming.com/simplyming.

Simply Ming is brought to you by Subaru of New England, proudly celebrating 50 years of love.

Authorized retailers at SubaruOfNewEngland.com.

Here's to the next 50 years and beyond.