Salt Poached Chicken Wings 鹽水雞翼 (Cantonese: yim sui gai yik) bring back childhood memories for me. It was always a treat when my mom would make a big batch of these and keep them in the fridge. I’d go munch on a few after school and sometimes throughout the day. I love the gelatinized brine that sticks to the chicken wings and the al denté texture of the skin. My mom would make these if she knew she was going to be busy that week and dinner may not be on time. I could snack on these before dinner.
When I make them now, I like to add extra Shaoxing wine to give them some “drunken chicken” flavour. This dish is typically cold, but my son, surprisingly, likes them warm. My son who’s an old soul, likes to warm water and dislikes sodas, so I guess I’m not that surprised. In case you like it warm, I include instructions for both cold and warm in my Salt Poached Chicken Wings 鹽水雞翼 recipe.
Salt Poached Chicken Wings 鹽水雞翼 is a popular home-style dish. It likely originated from the Hakka salted chicken, but much simplified. There's a similar version of this dish in Chaozhou 潮州 cuisine where they use duck wings and gizzards and cook them in a salt brine. These cold dishes go really well with wine or beer. In Chaozhou cuisine, they’re also famous for their late night congee habit called 打冷 (Cantonese: da lang) in Hong Kong. Plain congee is served with various side dishes such as oyster and egg pancake, deep-fried noodle fish, soy marinated meats, salt poached meats and much more….with lots of beer!
Serve these Salt Poached Chicken Wings 鹽水雞翼 with congee, beer or just as a snack. They’re super easy to make and they keep well in the fridge.
Love chicken wings? Try my copycat recipe from an extremely popular restaurant here in Vancouver: Crispy Chili Garlic Chicken Wings 椒鹽酥炸雞. Or another family favourite: Cola Wings 可樂雞翼
Salt Poached Chicken Wings 鹽水雞翼
Ingredients
- 900 g Chicken wings
- 1 tsp White peppercorns
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 Star anise (optional)
- 6 slices Ginger
- 3 stalks Green onions , tied in a knot
- 1 large Shallot , halved
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 3 tbsp Salt
- 1 tsp Chicken broth powder
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 1.5 L Water
- 2 tsp Salt for soaking chicken wings
- 2 c Ice for ice bath
Instructions
Instructions for cold al denté wings:
- Soak chicken wings in water with 2 tsp salt for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, rinse well with water and drain. Set aside
This step helps to reduce any unwanted odours and will help the meat absorb more of the brine 
- Prepare 1 tsp white peppercorns, 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, 1 star anise, 6 slices ginger, 3 stalks green onions and 1 large shallot. Set aside
- Fill a pot with 1.5L water. Add the ingredients from step 2 along with 3 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp chicken broth powder and ½ tsp sugar. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for 20 minutes
I will call this the brine - After simmering for 20 minutes, bring it back to a boil
- Add chicken wings to the pot. Cook on high until water reboils. Turn heat down to medium until it is at a simmering boil. Cook for 20 minutes.
We will keep the water for the brine so don’t pour it out! Cooking it for 20 minutes will allow some of the gelatin from the skin of the wings to go into the brine - Prepare ice and water in a mixing bowl for the ice bath
If you don’t have ice, you can rinse the wings with cold running water - Put the chicken wings into the ice bath. Let it soak until cooled
This step will help the skin stay elastic, giving it an al denté texture - You may discard all the aromatics
- Once the chicken wings have cooled, drain water and let dry in a colander or use kitchen towels to pat dry
- When the brine is cool, put the chicken wings into a container and pour the brine in. Note that most of the flavour is in the brine and it will solidify after it cools in the fridge.
I usually store the wings in a single layer and pour a layer of the brine so that each wing will have brine-jelly on it. You can add some more Shaoxing wine to the brine now to give it extra “drunken” flavour - Serve after the brine has solidified. Will take approx. 2 hours
Instructions for warm wings:
- Soak chicken wings in water with 2 tsp salt for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, rinse well with water and drain. Set aside
- Prepare 1 tsp white peppercorns, 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, 1 star anise, 6 slices ginger, 3 stalks green onions and 1 large shallot. Set aside
- Boil water in a large pot, approx. 3L
- Prepare ice and water in a mixing bowl for the ice bath
- When water comes to a boil, add chicken wings. Cook for 3 minutes after water reboils (in other words, when water starts to boil, cook for another 3 minutes). Drain water
- Place wings into water bath until they are completely cool. Drain and let dry in a colander or pat dry with kitchen towels
This step is so that the skin can keep its texture without getting too soft and breaking open - Fill a pot with 1.5L water. Add the ingredients from step 2 along with 3 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp chicken broth powder and ½ tsp sugar. Bring to a boil
- Add chicken into the pot. Cook at high until water boils again. Turn heat down to medium and let cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, cover pot and leave it for 1 hour
- Serve
Leave a Reply