i still remember the story my mom told me. i was 4 the first time i ate drunken pigeon. i obviously was influenced by alcohol and kept singing and dancing in front of a bunch of strangers all night… the rest was history… to commemorate this event, i am making this appetizer with a more manageable ingredient – chicken wings.
chicken wings 1 lb (1/2 kg)
shaoxing huadiao wine 紹興花雕酒 cups (360 ml)
mei kuei lu chiew 玫瑰露酒 1 tbsp
chicken stock 2 cups (480 ml)
salt 1 tbsp
- slightly blanch the chicken wings in a pot of boiling water, for around 30 seconds, until it comes to a boil again. this helps remove the unwanted fat and blood
- put the wings into a pot, cover with chicken stock, wine, and salt
- bring to a boil and turn off the heat. let the residual heat do the cooking, until the whole pot drops down to room temperature
- chill the wings together with the chicken stock in the fridge, so they continue to absorb the flavours
- serve cold
blanch the wings to remove impurities
mei kuei lu chiew (left) & shaowing huadiao wine (right)
let the wings sit in the wine overnight to absorb all the flavours
bringing back childhood memories
commentaries:
priscilla:
shaoxing is where the huadiao wine originated from. huadiao wine is made of made of glutinous rice and wheat. it has a gentle flowery aroma.
we are using mei kuei lu chiew, a chinese white wine distilled with rose and crystal sugar, to give our wings some extra flavour. if your local market does not have it, no worries, you can just skip it. or, replace it with the rose buds, osmanthus 桂花. it gives a twist to the traditional drunken wings.
of course, you can use this recipe to make a whole chicken, pig knuckles, prawns (my mom’s favourite)… the time for cooking varies. if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Homemade in Hong Kong 
I love drunken chicken, I guess mainly because I like alcohol. Hehe. Happy New Year!
haha totally understandable kelly
happy chinese new year!
I have never heard of drunken chicken wings 🙂 Where does that wine come from and do you think I will find it in Paris?
shaoxing is a type of chinese rice wine, commonly used in chinese cooking. it comes from shaoxing, a city in china. my best bet is that you would find it in an asian market.
Thanks for your input.
I am new to rice wine in cooking… I think I need to do some serious googling!
always good to learn something new. it’s really no different than cooking with sherry or wine. it helps add flavor to the dish.
If you should name top three (Asian/Chinese) dishes that benefit from rice wine, what would they be?
we actually have 4 recipes that call for the rice wine, drunken wings, stir fry snails, steamed chicken, and claypot fish.
the flavor really comes through in steamed and stir fry dishes, like steamed crab or stir fry chinese broccoli.
Wow! Thanks a lot!!
Stir fry snails sounds interesting. I like snails (the French style) so I think I will try them. Or claypot fish 🙂
PS another question. which oil do you use in Chinese cooking? I am sorry, but my China knowledge is quite limited 😦
oh no worries, glad to answer any questions you may have. for us, we use regular canola or olive oil. but for most chinese restaurants, vegetable oil is quite common. and they usually like to fry things in peanut oil for more aroma.
Thanks again 🙂
I bought some peanut oil in India and really liked it in Asian dishes I made. It is good for dishes that require high temperature, right?
When you say vegetable oil, can it be any, even palm oil? (maybe you know that there is a lot of talks about palm oil in Europe…)
Yeah peanut oil has a high smoke point, so it’s good for deep frying. Or in the case of Chinese cooking, they cook with a really high heat wok.
Yeah palm oil is a type of veggie oil, along with soybean, corn, etc
Got it 🙂 Talk to you soon again!