Cooking: Coca-Cola Chicken Wings

Honestly this dish isn’t that hard, but after making it myself once, I gotta say it turned out way better than what I’ve had at other people’s places.

The method’s been tweaked a bit to my own taste. First, prep the wings: after thawing, score the back of each wing with a knife, then toss them with Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, a little chili, salt, scallion, and ginger, and marinate for two hours.

Once the marinating’s done, bring water to a boil and blanch the wings in it — you don’t need more than 60 seconds before fishing them out. Drain them well, then pan-fry in a skillet with just a little oil.

When both sides are golden brown, immediately add the cola, dark soy sauce, a suitable amount of salt, two small chilies, and some scallion and ginger pieces. Turn to low heat and start the slow simmer.

That low simmer needs patience — wait until the cola has reduced down to almost nothing, and it’s ready to come out of the pan.

Finally, sprinkle on a little sesame and dig in.

The texture’s great: tender meat, sweet and savory, with a bit of heat. Really tasty.