Although I reluctantly admit to being a snob about convenience foods in the states, in Beijing I love to try random premixed items found at the grocery store, including this little packet of chicken wing seasoning. This fragrant-spicy spice mix, made by McCormick, is designed to be mixed with water, slathered over wings, marinated for a few minutes, and nuked in a microwave. It’s a combination of salt, chili, sugar, milk powder, desiccated garlic, onion, cumin seed, orange peel, tomato powder, sichuan pepper, pepper, and yeast extract. No mess, no fuss! How easy for the harried mother! How perfectly delicious at 2 am when you’ve had a little two much erguotou 二锅头 (in Beijing parlance, xiao’er 小二, thank you very much)!
McCormick 味好美 spices are kinda big here. They purvey a giant selection geared toward local tastes, including five-spice powder, ground Sichuan peppercorn, bay leaf, cumin, and so forth, all found in the local grocery and hypermarkets. I bought this as a compromise while I was transfixed by the display of whole, ground, and loose spices at the Zhongguancun Carrefour (Jialefu 家乐福), one of my favorite places on planet Beijing. There are few other places where you can buy black chickens for making soup (as well as three other types of chicken, including young chickens and roosters), a fresh cut of pork hanging from ceiling hooks, as well as Lurpak butter, organic French coffee, and red wool long underwear.
I didn’t follow the directions on the packet. I added full fat plain yogurt left over from a Xinjiang restaurant outing instead of water, to make the wings even more tender; buttered foil with my hoard of real butter, to bring the total number of fat sources up to three; marinated them overnight; and stuck these chicken wings in my trusty counter top oven, with a full blast of roasty heat at 200C for about 15 minutes covered, then 5 minutes uncovered.
Lo and behold, the wings were sticky, crisp-edged, and ever so slightly spicy. A few bites had whole cumin seeds, and the tangerine peel brought a delectably bitter and refreshing edge to the wings. Yours for about RMB 2.7 at the local market.
Liked the (unintentional?) word play of “two” much 二锅头 … Interested in your counter-top oven — maybe worth a post?
It was unintentional, then I caught it, and then I thought it was funny. Thanks for the suggestion — we’re going to do something about our respective kitchens soon.