Korean Gochujang Basting Sauce: Wow, was this stuff good.

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Basic recipe is from "Eat Delicious" from Dennis the Prescott...a photo blogger who--five years ago--learned to cook from Jamie Oliver books at the library. Now he has his own book.

Moving on.

He puts this sauce on baked chicken wings. We had 2 marinated thighs ready to go for dinner and decided to try it out to see whether it was worth wasting wings.

We'll definitely be trying this on wings. And possibly shrimp.

He used this amount for 5 pounds of wings:

1/2 C gochujang hot pepper paste** (** = see my notes)

1/4 C soy sauce

6 TBL pure maple syrup (thanks, Cyn!)

2 TBL rice vinegar (**)

2 TBL fresh lime juice (**)

2 TBL sesame oil

1/2 C butter, melted

4 garlic cloves (**)

1 TBL grated ginger root

Toppings:

1/4 C crushed roasted peanuts (**)

1/4 C slivered green onions (**)

2 TBL sesame seeds

1 lime, cut into wedges

Fresh cilantro

Whisk all the sauce ingredients. Have meat cooked and still hot. Baste with sauce and bake at 425 for 5 more minutes (**)

Add toppings.

Dive in.

Have LOTS of napkins.

So, here are my notes:

We were--to be honest--afraid to use 1/2 C of the hot pepper paste, so our version used 1/4 C. This amount worked out well for us. Happiness reigned in the taste bud region because the taste bud region could still register tastes.

I had no rice vinegar so I used half white vinegar and half Shao Xsing rice wine.

I totally forgot to put the lime juice in the sauce, but we did squeeze lots on the finished product. A MUST for flavor.

Only used 2 cloves of garlic because I'm me.

Had no peanuts so used roasted cashews.

Had no green onions so the dish was monochromatic.

I had already cooked the thighs, then cut slits into them (like tandoori chicken), basted with the sauce and baked for 5 minutes. They looked a little insipid so I basted again and then poured the drippings from the pan over them before adding the toppings.

Will DEFINITELY make this again.

I pulled this recipe from his BOOK. The linked recipe from his blog is slightly different. Maybe the book recipe testers modified it?

PS: The brand of GOCHUJANG HOT PEPPER PASTE that I used is called HAECHANDLE ("#1 sold in Korea"--or so the label says) It's scaled at MEDIUM HOT and I bought it a few years back at the oriental store. It's been sitting in the bottom of my refrigerator since then. Still perfectly fine.

https://dennistheprescott.com/2015/01/31/korean-gochujang-chicken-wings/

 
Now you're ready to take on Steve's Galbi!

I like gochujang. I like hot but not torridly hot. Most of the gochujang I have bought is not very hot.

 
Round 2: Did wings last night and it's a winner. So is this method to bake crisp wings:

We bought a 3 lb package (15 planks and 15 drumettes) thinking the leftovers could go into the freezer.

Ya. Sure.

I don't cook meat that often so I searched online to find the timing. This method promised crispy skin and it really worked.

Toss wing pieces with
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBL BAKING POWDER.

Yep. Don't ask me why. The webside said it changes the pH level of the skin so it dries out and crisps. I have no idea if that is true, but it definitely worked.

Lay wing parts on a WIRE RACK over a large cookie sheet (air needs to get below it and the grease drops).
Bake 250 for 30 minutes.
Increase temp to 425 for 40 minutes.

I stopped it at 35 minutes, basted with the Korean sauce and finished baking it.
Squeezed a full lime over all of them, added the chopped cilantro and cashews, then we dug in.

LOTS OF NAPKINS were used.

We ended up with 13 left over (out of 30 pieces) so those did go into the freezer. I was actually amazed we managed not to scarf those down too.

I'm writing this after a 5:30 AM spin class where I performed penance for my gluttony. Possibly lust was committed too.

Amen.

 
Love our chicken wings! I never have heard of Baking powder being used. Will give it a shot! Tx

 
It says red pepper, red pepper powder, and "spices". I know any one of those could be cayenne

from past experience

 
I had looked at ingredients and it didn't mention peppers so based it on that.

Gochujang is a red chile paste that also contains glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, salt, and sometimes sweeteners. It's a thick, sticky condiment that's spicy and very concentrated and pungent in flavor.

 
cheezz said:
It says red pepper, red pepper powder, and "spices". I know any one of those could be cayenne

from past experience
Click to expand...
Probably not in Korean cuisine. There are red peppers that have a more varied flavor than cayenne which is just plain hot.

To compare it with two popular sauces that almost always comes up in the same breath, gochujang is like the love child of sriracha and miso—spicy like the former, pungent like the latter—with a hint of sweetness. You could probably guess this from the color and flavor, but chilies (specifically, a type of dried chile powder called gochugaru) are one of the main ingredients, along with salt, glutinous rice (aka sticky rice), and fermented soybeans. Traditionally, all of these ingredients are mixed together in an earthenware jug and left to ferment for months at a time, making a concentrated, flavor-packed paste with a hint of sweetness thanks to the glutinous rice starches that convert to sugars over time.
 
I have no idea how this came to be posted as a new recipe. I meant it to follow Michael's Gochujang thigh dish, which was in the cheddar spiral link.
 
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