Korean fried chicken, original and spicy gochujang

Trim excess fat from the thighs; it will not render correctly under the breading.

Flip each thigh bone side up, line up the bone and chop through cleaver style, then halve each half again, giving four roughly three ounce pieces per thigh, 16 in all.

Toss the chicken with 20 g salt, 10 g grated ginger and 10 g grated garlic until evenly coated.

Cure in the fridge 15 to 20 minutes.

Add two and a half to three liters of light olive oil to a six and a half quart Dutch oven and preheat over medium heat.

Combine the soy sauce, sugar, honey, gochujang, mirin, hot sauce, grated ginger, grated garlic and water in a sauce pan.

Bring to a simmer and reduce about 15 minutes, until reduced by four or five times and sticky enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a trail.

Turn the chicken out onto paper towel and blot it dry; dry meat bonds better with the breading.

Combine 350 g all-purpose flour, 350 g potato starch, 15 g salt, 10 g baking powder, 8 g onion powder and 8 g garlic powder and whisk well.

In a second bowl, put about a third or a quarter of the dry mix and whisk in just enough water to make a loose batter about the viscosity of buttermilk.

Add a drizzle or about a cup's worth of the wet batter to the remaining dry mix and fluff it into fine gravelly craggy bits, adding a little more batter if it stays powdery.

Toss the dried chicken with about a cup of flour, then shake each piece hand to hand to knock off the excess; too much flour keeps the breading from bonding.

Dip each piece in the wet batter, flip with a fork to coat, drain it very well, then sprinkle the craggies over it and toss to loosen any excess. Rest on a sheet tray.

Once the oil reads 350F, lower the pieces in one at a time away from yourself, keeping each in its own corner of the pot so they do not clump.

Fry seven minutes at the lower temperature, aiming for 315F; loosen the pieces off the bottom with a spider partway.

After seven minutes the breading is set with no colour. Scoop the pieces onto a wire rack on a sheet tray to drain while the oil comes up.

With the oil at 375F, fry five more minutes, 12 minutes in total, until deeply golden brown.

Brush the still warm gochujang sauce onto eight of the 16 pieces; brushing sauces more lightly and does not break the breading the way tossing does.

Finish the sauced pieces with sesame seed and stack in a bowl.