Why China hates Buffalo Wings (and how to fix it)

[00:00] Now, I don't want to say that every single 

[00:05] of humanity. I'm sure you could find somebody 

[00:11] here in China, every single Chinese friend that 

[00:17] Now, that's of course just my personal experience, 

[00:23] you can definitely get Western food here in 

[00:27] French fries, pizza, even bagels… kind of. But 

[00:36] nada. Which, like, I don't know, kind of sucks, 

[00:42] was in high school, college, my absolute favorite 

[00:48] me a little like what Niuza - Cantonese street 

[00:55] white bread American home cooking background and 

[01:02] those two respective dishes were our first 

[01:09] back when I was 17, me and my buddies, we would 

[01:13] eating contests. Your mouth on fire, your hands 

[01:20] it's just… I don't know. Good memories. So, 

[01:27] my Chinese friends to the same experience. 

[01:34] of them have ever actually been into it. And if 

[01:41] also basically to a man, the response is that it's 

[01:48] problem a lot over the years, maybe a little bit 

[01:54] have been able to finally figure it out. Now, 

[01:59] look inside yourself, you'll find it to be true, 

[02:06] The canonical hot sauce for an authentically 

[02:13] fucking garbage. Now, if you're anything like me, 

[02:19] but I want you to take a bottle of Frank’s. I 

[02:25] and compare it against a Crystal or a Valentina 

[02:34] It tastes like vinegar essence. The fragrance 

[02:39] good chili flavor, and it's not even spicy. This 

[02:46] lightly whispered the words “chili pepper” 

[02:55] maybe Frank's used to be better. Maybe this is 

[03:01] an American food product, running it straight into 

[03:07] this specific case, I don't think that there's 

[03:11] hypothesis. So, cut back to me back when I was 

[03:20] my idea of some wild flavors. So, predictably, 

[03:28] And so, I think if you're the type of person 

[03:37] your predominant feeling is “that is a spicy 

[03:45] to you… because the vinegar, it cuts the 

[03:51] cheese dressing will definitely cut the heat, but 

[03:59] The end result is a product that - in Buffalo's 

[04:05] spicy foods. But now I want you to picture the 

[04:13] this here functionally is your local bar. When 

[04:19] to be ordering a fistful of the beef chili bombs. 

[04:24] Gan Ma on, not because it's actually spicy, 

[04:29] If your mouth has already adjusted to 

[04:37] you're going to taste Frank’s and it's going to 

[04:42] extra cayenne pepper your foreigner friend 

[04:47] buffalo wings, they're not going to be spicy 

[04:54] So in this video, what I decided to do 

[05:00] wing from first principles. So just to make 

[05:06] I think a buffalo sauce, it should be spicy just 

[05:14] challenging at around wing four or so. The sauce 

[05:20] It should have a slight tang and a mild hit 

[05:28] ingredients in the sauce like ketchup or god 

[05:35] But also at the same time, for the purpose 

[05:41] use anything that tastes overly “Chinese” either. 

[05:49] but better buffalo wing that can 

[05:55] So, right, basics. Now, Franks is, of course, 

[06:03] Now, before I could easily get Frank's here, I 

[06:09] frantically searching for recipes online 

[06:14] so that I could recreate it here in China, which 

[06:20] lazy. But a little bit ago, I was at the 

[06:26] really being pretty stupid. Because here in China, 

[06:34] chili peppers, some of which can really get quite 

[06:40] you are in the market of following along at home, 

[06:47] actually pretty available at Chinese supermarkets 

[06:53] xiaomila. And if you ate one of these straight, 

[06:58] which is what we want because remember, the 

[07:03] conspiracy to balance that heat. So, what we'll do 

[07:10] or two of garlic together with a 1/3 of a cup 

[07:15] mesh sieve. And then with that, this is going 

[07:24] But that brings me to pain point number two, which 

[07:32] is made. Now, for the unaware, you make a buffalo 

[07:38] technique called mounting with butter. It's kind 

[07:44] You take your sauce and then you whisk cubes of 

[07:50] then you're left with a thick, rich sauce. But I 

[07:56] with this approach. The first one is that this 

[08:03] Like I want to toss wings in a sauce while 

[08:09] when I do that with this kind of butter-mounted 

[08:16] Now, from what I can tell, the OG Buffalo sauce, 

[08:22] And these days at sports bars and the like, 

[08:27] Both of which have stabilizers to thicken. Which 

[08:34] I want a thick sauce that actually really coats 

[08:41] hot sauces. Like, at that point, I'd rather 

[08:46] But to get to the thickness that I want by 

[08:51] needing to go half-half, which *is* one of 

[08:57] But by that point, the sauce, it ends up losing 

[09:03] for. And importantly, also for the Chinese 

[09:10] I don't know if you've ever actually let homemade 

[09:16] The stuff it ends up almost gross. Like, you 

[09:22] So I was thinking about this problem for a while 

[09:29] So in the end, I'm going to do what I know 

[09:36] Now I'll be adding a bunch of butter, of course, 

[09:42] But I'm also going to be thickening with starch, 

[09:48] so that the final product can actually hold. So, 

[09:56] So, here we've got 15 wings. And of course, the 

[10:03] is definitely to fry them naked. No marinade, 

[10:11] I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be taking 

[10:17] Yunan dish called Sheng Zha Ji or ‘directly fried 

[10:25] crispy coating. I know you might be skeptical. 

[10:30] So then to marinate to my wings, I'll just 

[10:36] chicken bouillon powder, half tablespoon of a 

[10:41] soy sauce, bourbon, and Tabasco together with a 

[10:47] Mix that well and then let that marinate in 

[10:52] Then, right before deep frying, we'll whisk one 

[10:58] just 10 grams each of water and cornstarch. And 

[11:05] Then we'll get a wok of oil up to about 120 

[11:11] and let the coating form for about 1 minute. Then 

[11:19] drop the wings in again. Fry those for about 

[11:25] cooked and the wings are good and crispy… and 

[11:33] Together with our makeshift hot sauce from before, 

[11:38] combination) to get to one cup worth of liquid. 

[11:44] powder and Tabasco, a teaspoon each sugar and rice 

[11:51] a half teaspoon chicken bouillon powder, and an 

[11:57] and then we're ready to fry. But one last final 

[12:06] it was all pretty tasty. I liked it. Steph liked 

[12:13] So what I decided to do - and this is 

[12:19] a little bit of the spiciest chili pepper 

[12:25] And that is a little bit of Yunnan’s very 

[12:31] uh, what it is is it's a ghost pepper. It comes 

[12:40] one of the most traditional uses for the thing was 

[12:47] But the culinary use there is also really quite 

[12:52] because it's used for dips. The character Shuan in 

[13:00] so this thing, it's literally called swish swish 

[13:07] you'll take your ghost pepper, and you'll just 

[13:13] spicy. So we'll just toss a half a ghost pepper in 

[13:20] to get started with the stir fry. Then we're going 

[13:26] but if you have a higher spice tolerance 

[13:31] So to our wok, we'll first toss in 2 tbsp of 

[13:38] Then go in with one finely minced clove of garlic. 

[13:43] three more pickled spicy chilies for the sake of 

[13:50] powder. Now up the flame to high. Give it all a 

[13:55] the spatula and around the side of the walk. Quick 

[14:01] swap the flame down to low and drizzle in a slurry 

[14:07] amount of water. Once that's thickened to about 

[14:12] the heat and mount things with cold cold butter 

[14:20] which was for us 2.5 more tablespoons. Then piping 

[14:27] good mix… then transfer the saucy wings over to 

[14:34] And… ‘excess buffalo’ because looking at 

[14:42] a little mote of my brain kept on 

[14:47] Now, I'm really not sure why, the dishes really 

[14:53] I did decide to serve this alongside some 

[14:59] which honestly is a fantastic combination - might 

[15:07] But besides that, of course, we'll also have the 

[15:12] it stringless in the Cantonese style. And also 

[15:16] fresh mild chilies. Then we'll serve that all 

[15:22] you should definitely buy yours, but here in Yuxi, 

[15:28] I just whipped together a bog standard 35 grams 

[15:34] 75g of plain yogurt, 20 grams of a non-Asian 

[15:41] each salt, MSG, and rice vinegar. Sprinkle 

[15:48] are my American-style buffalo wings, remixified 

[15:56] give these a go? Hang on. Let's uh you're not 

[16:10] Now, this buffalo wings tastes pretty good to me 

[16:16] Bangkok and Shenzhen. But important thing is where 

[16:23] from Taco Bell Jianbing to Henry Kissingers Moo 

[16:30] best is our chili chip Laziji, the Sichuan style 

[16:38] It's so good that it should really be a thing. As 

[16:44] above the deep fried pineapple pizza bao? Anyway, 

[16:52] tested, and if you're ever curious of any one 

[16:59] They are quite fun and tasty. Anyway, real normal 

[17:08] in the meantime, thank you for 

[17:10] on Patreon and subscribe for 

[17:20] You don't want that. You want ghost pepper dude?