He was a retired fighter pilot and
ladies’ man, but the years hung heavily on him by the time I showed up. He had
turned into a shy and retiring gentleman who just wished to be left alone with
the things he loved, and this mostly included rose bushes and the dishes of his
childhood.
I described him and the way he changed my attitude
toward many things in a short story from about two years ago called “Monkey Eve,” the first of a series of stories I’ve been writing about my life as a
Chinese daughter-in-law. Writing about him woke up lots of memories, and many
of them were very good, and a particular few were especially delicious. This is
one of them: Vinegar Chicken.
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| Lovely green onions in the market |
Despite its name, this is not at all
tart. In fact, the way that the vinegar is added – at the end, so that it forms
just a wisp of aroma around the simply braised wings – turns it into more of a
suggestion than a main ingredient. But it is enough to elevate the flavors here
into something quite elegant yet homey.
I’ve wondered over the years whether
this was a Hakka or Cantonese invention, but the truth has eluded me. I am
guessing that this is something simple that his own family treasured, and I
like to imagine that his mother and his grandmother taught him how to make it
back when he was a boy.
This recipe is one of his prizes. My husband longs
for it on occasion, so it is a dish I haul out when I want to particularly make
him happy.
I’ve never found this recipe
anywhere else, so this must have been a family heirloom, and therefore it’s the
type of dish that most Chinese families would guard jealously as their clan’s sìfángcài 私房菜, or “private dishes.” But
since no one in my in-laws’ extended family likes to cook other than me, I’m
going to pass it on to you so that the wonderful cooking talents of my
husband’s father continue to live on and can be enjoyed.
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| Brown the wings and aromatics |
Serve this with lots of
plain rice to soak up the sauce, plus a simple vegetable or two. And in his
memory please offer something sweet for dessert – he always loved things from
the local Chinatown bakery, or even a bag of cookies or sesame candy – with a
cup of hot jasmine tea, his other must-have.
Vinegar
chicken chez Huang
Huángjiā cù jī 黃家醋雞
Homestyle cuisine
Serves 4
About 1½ pounds (675 g) free-range chicken wings
3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sliced ginger (more or less)
2 green onions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch (5 cm)
lengths
2 tablespoons mild rice wine (like Taiwan Mijiu)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon pale rice vinegar
1. Pat the wings dry, remove any feathers, and cut
them up along the joints. You can use the wingtips or save them for stock – my
husband loves to nibble on them, so into the pot they go.
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| First add the salt to the hot oil |
3. Quickly boil down the liquid to a syrupy sauce.
If the wings look like they are going to fall apart in the process, scoop them
out and place them in a clean work bowl. When the sauce has been complete
reduced, turn off the heat, return the chicken to the wok, toss it in the
sauce, sprinkle the vinegar over the chicken, and immediately cover it. My
father-in-law insisted that the chicken not be moved after this point, as
otherwise the vinegar will turn sour. Open up the wok after a couple of
minutes, plate the chicken and sauce, and serve immediately.
