Bad Wife

Ryan went to get his cholesterol checked last week and yesterday his numbers came back.  They are all still borderline high.  I feel terrible for him because he exercises and generally eats healthy food and has never smoked anything and yet he has this hanging over him.  And what kind of wife am I?  Do I cook healthy meals out of great concern for his well-being?  Do make sure we have tons of vegetables and whatever else is good for your cholesterol?  Do I even know what is good for your cholesterol?  No.  I do none of those things.  I just fry up some chicken and pop it on a plate with some carbs.  What can I say?  Korean Fried Chicken just tastes good!  It's light and crispy and spicy and savory.  Next week I'll make something that won't kill him.

(Confidential to Dr. Who fans - Bad Wife?  Bad Wolf?  Am I leaving myself a message to remind myself to save my husband?)



KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
Package of 5-6 chicken drumsticks
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 t powdered ginger
2 T soy sauce
2 T gojujang (Korean chile paste)
1 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
1 T honey
1/3 C cornstarch

vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor, combine the garlic, ginger powder, soy, gojujang, rice vinegar, sesame oil and honey.  Blend until fully combined.  Taste it.  It is spicy, right?  Not spicy enough?  Add some more gojujang. Too spicy?  Balance with a bit more honey.  When you have it just right, pour it into a large bowl.  You're going to toss the fried wings in the sauce, so make it a bowl that will let you do that.

In a large heavy bottomed pot, pour 1-2" of oil.  Heat the oil to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Take your drumsticks and coat them in cornstarch, shaking off the excess.  You can certainly use flour or a mix of cornstarch and flour.  Cornstarch makes a very light coating, not a heavy crispy one.  More of a light crackly one.  When your drumsticks are coated, pop 2-3 at a time into the oil (how many you can fit depends on the size of your pot, don't overcrowd).  Watch your oil temperature closely, you want to maintain around 350.  Fry the drumsticks for 4 minutes on the first side, then using metal tongs, flip them and fry for another 4 minutes.  Have a tray covered in paper towels waiting and when they're done, pull them out.  Keep at it until all your drumsticks are fried. I checked to see if they're done by using a meat thermometer.  You want an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees fahrenheit for poultry.  Try to stick the thermometer into the meatiest part of the drumstick.  My temperature was okay after the first frying, but when I put the probe into the chicken and pulled it out, red blood burbled out of the thing like something out of a horror movie.  I'm not kidding.  If you know why this is, PLEASE reveal in the comments.  Anyway, the red blood creeped me right out so I threw those suckers right back into the oil and fried them for another 3 minutes per side.  This time the temperature was way over 165, but there was no scary blood.  Give them a minute or two to drain their oil onto paper towels and then toss them in the sauce until they are well coated.