Fried Chicken Extravaganza! — As Seen In Japan

This is my favorite fried chicken in the universe. It’s sold at a little stand at the front of our grocery store, where the ladies know me as the guy who always orders 300 grams of this exact type every single time I go in there. I’ve sampled everything they have, and this is definitely the best - crunchy, juicy, and filled with a mind-controlling chemical that makes you crave it fortnightly.

Fried chicken is serious business in Japan. It’s tradition to eat it on Christmas, a tradition we have followed in years past, such as when we got these wings at Namba in Osaka:

Sweet sesame flavor. I could eat 10 million of these.

I have my own tradition regarding chicken wings. On New Year’s Day 2009, my friends Matt, Peeto, and I were unable to (or too cheap to, depending on your outlook) procure tickets to see USC in the Rose Bowl, so we stayed in and ordered Hooters wings. We polished off 50 wings and paired them with only the finest Andre, and it was quite honestly one of the best things I have ever done in my life. Because of that fond memory, wings and Champagne became a New Year’s Day luxury. I don’t drink alcohol anymore, but I always make wings on January 1st, and this year was no exception.

Not the best I’ve ever made, but they got the job done.

That’s half regular salt and pepper, half with a spicy/sweet Korean sauce my wife makes.

One thing to note about Japan is that sometimes you will see “Buffalo Wings” on a menu. However, to the Japanese, “Buffalo sauce” means tangy BBQ sauce like you get out of a bottle at the grocery store. However, I was able to find some real Buffalo sauce at Kaldi and made these babies a while back:

In the bowl next to them is a Hidden Valley Ranch dip powder my mom sent us from America. Don’t @ me blue cheese dorks.

My first foray into home wing-making was back in 2017, when I made Thai chili wings:

But I’m no chicken expert. Japan is full of delicious karaage, wings, and Korean chicken places. We’ll cover all the great chicken in Kobe in a later post, but here are a few gems from my time in Japan.

From a place known as “ZERO CALORIE” in Motomachi: