Good morning. The weekends have been filled with frustration lately, all kinds of broken things that need to be fixed before anything fun can happen: the frost-killed hose bib out front; the 30-amp fuse in the hydraulics on the skiff; the shorted-out taillight on the trailer beneath it. That’s often the way of the world: 20-minute jobs that can run to an hour if you’re not careful, two if you’re reckless. It’s annoying!
I suppose there are those who think about cooking this way. I am not one of them. A few hours out in the wild struggling with machines and I’m ready for the best reset I know: a retreat to the kitchen, a workshop I know inside and out, with every tool and ingredient in its place. Delicious is the best salve for exasperation, every time.
So here’s a dinner for anyone who’s wrestled the weekend and brought it only to a draw: Korean fried chicken (above).
Julia Moskin adapted the recipe from one developed by the food writer Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, using either boneless chicken thighs or bone-in wings. Taste the sauce for the glaze as you make it — some will want a little less ketchup, or a little more gochujang. Serve with sheet-pan japchae and beer you’ve stored in the freezer while you’re cooking the chicken, so cold that it has flecks of ice in it.
