Lum Chun style Cantonese fried chicken wings

The shop kept its own brine secret, so this brine is a restaurant style used for dishes like jajigai and involves some guesswork.

Mix the salt, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, MSG and white pepper powder through the wings.

Add the soy sauce, liaojiu and fish sauce, then about two cups of water, or just enough to barely cover.

Refrigerate at least 90 minutes and up to overnight. The longer it sits, the more tender the wings.

Drain the wings, move them to a big basin, add two tablespoons of the marinade and mix well.

Add potato starch bit by bit, first enough to make a thin brine slurry that coats the wing, then enough to dry everything out, and toss.

Fill a wok with about a litre of oil and heat over a high flame to 160C.

Toss two wings at a time with another two to three tablespoons of potato starch, knock off the excess, and roll them into the oil at around 160C, letting the coating on the flat side set for a couple of seconds before dropping each in.

Drop the flame to medium high and fry at around 140C for eight minutes in all.

Lift out, let the oil drain off, and set on a paper towel lined plate.

These wings are su, the lighter crispiness that melts away in the mouth, as opposed to cui, the heavier crunch with a real shell to it.