Orange and Ginger Caramelised Chicken Wings (Gordon Ramsay)

Have you watched the TV series, Gordon's Great Escape? I did but only manged to catch the last two episodes when Gordon visited Malaysia and Thailand and I'm loving them. Gordon Ramsay was funny as he set himself to explore and learn the culture and cuisines in selected Asian counties. There were some scenes that I couldn't forget and couldn't stop laughing...

One was a group of ladyboys dancing along with Gordon to get him noticed. He realised this wacky action after looking odd among the ladyboys...

Another is when Gordon was trying to learn to cook curry with a Malaysia lady, she told him everything that she added is agak agak (meaning estimation)! Geez!

When I saw the Gordon Ramsay's Asian inspired orange and ginger caramelized chicken wings cooked by Lian from Whatever You Do, I know that they must be inspired by Gordon's Great Escape and going to be superb...

According to Lian, she reckons that her chicken wings were lack of flavours especially their insides. To tackle, I have roasted our chicken wings with slight modifications:

1) Instead of adding 1 cup of water to cook the orange syrup, I have added just 1/4 cup of water.

2) Instead of browning the chicken wings with heated oil in frying pan, I have roasted the chicken wings at 200°C fan forced with top grill for 5 minutes on each side.

3) The chicken wings were then baked at 160°C fan forced in the syrup for 60 minutes, in the pool of orange syrup and coated with shallot-ginger-orange mixture on them, with constant turning and basting in every 15 minutes.

4) The chicken wings were then transferred to fresh sheet of baking paper without any orange syrup. The shallot-ginger-orange mixture was placed around the chicken wings (not on top of them) and they were baked at 160°C fan forced in the syrup for 30 minutes with constant turning and basting (with minimal amount of syrup) in every 15 minutes.

Indeed! Simply because these chicken wings are roasted with a caramel sauce infused with Asian ingredients to develop crispy flavoursome skins. In contrast, they are unlike the Gordon Ramsay's sticky lemon chicken that I have cooked previously being tastier and crispier. The combination of the subtle tang and sweetness from orange, a hint of spiciness from ginger and lots of Vietnamese inspired fragrance from lemongrass and fish sauce has made these chicken wings very delicious. Plus, Gordon is right that chicken wings are great value for money! With these much flavours and beautiful fragrance, you can't detect that these chicken wings are actually cheapest cut from chicken. This means that there will be more money for mummy's shoes shopping. Ooohhh! This I called... Great mummy cooking's tip! Shhh...

Glad that I have cooked something cheap and good... Good? These are what my husband and boy said...

Man: Wow, mummy! These chicken wings got standard!
Boy: I want more candy crush!

Got standard??? Please pardon our Singlish! Being Singaporeans, this is how we usually speak at home...

Candy crush? We are not referring to the candy crush game in our phones! My boy said that the caramelised candied shallots-ginger-orange is his version of candy crush as they are extremely fragrant and delicious with a nice sugary crunch!

Orange and ginger caramelised chicken wings

... Made with very Asian inspired ingredients...

... and oranges!

First, cook these sliced, gratedand julienned ingredients in heated pan.

Then, proceed to do this.

Start baking the chicken wings by doing this first...

... and baked them for 1 1/2 hours until they look like this.

Serving these got-standard chicken wings!!! Yum!

These are my boy's candy crush!!! The wings are extra delicious to eat with these!

Here is my version of Gordon Ramsay's Vietnamese inspired recipe mostly adapted from Channel 4 (which includes 1 1/2 amount of the original recipe and my baking steps)

Serves 6

2 tbsp vegetable oil, for cooking (preferably something healthy like rice bran oil)
9-12 shallots, peeled and sliced (I have used 9 large shallots)
6 garlic cloves or all from 1 garlic, peeled and sliced
3 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and bashed
7-8 cm knob of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
Zest and juice of 3 oranges
225g granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) water
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 kg or 12 chicken wings
finely sliced spring onion, to serve

Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan forced. Heat oil in a pan and add the shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and orange zest and cook for 2–3 mins or until softened. Add the sugar, water, orange juice and fish sauce and allow to dissolve. Cook in low heat (without boiling) until the mixture has reduced and thickened which takes about 5-10 mins. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Place chicken wings on two roasting trays lined with non-stick baking paper and baked them at 200°C fan forced with top grill for first 2-3 mins on each side (plus switching the position of the trays). After 10-15 mins, lower oven temperature to 180°C or 160°C fan forced.

Set about 40-50 ml of orange syrup aside for basting. Pour the rest of the syrup over the chicken wings and mix well to coat. Place a tablespoonful of shallot-ginger-orange mixture on each chicken wings and bake the chicken wings in the oven for 60 mins with constant turning and basting in every 15 mins.

After 60 mins, transfer chicken wings to fresh sheets of baking paper without any orange syrup. Place the shallot-ginger-orange mixture around the chicken wings (not on top of them). Return to bake the chicken wings at 160°C fan forced in the syrup for 30 mins with constant turning and basting (with minimal amount of syrup) in every 15 mins until the wings turn golden brown and sticky. 

Remove the chicken wings from the oven and serve with caramelised shallot-ginger-orange mixture and a sprinkle of finely sliced spring onions.

Happy Baking
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