Recipe: Sake Jr’s Japanese Fried Chicken with Gochujang Sauce

By day, fast-casual chain Saké Jr is a health-focused Japanese inspired smorgasbord of fresh DIY Japanese bowls and sides. With an injection to their menu from renowned chef Neil Perry, the increasingly popular chain has introduced a “Jr By Night” menu that pushes into a different kind of vibe, with a special night-only offering including tasty choices such as Japanese Fried Chicken. We’re constantly fawning over juicy iterations of the popular fried food so we through it best to sourced Sake Jr’s exact recipe and bring it to our readers. Your house parties will never be the same.

Japanese Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 litres water
  • 150g salt
  • 2kg free range chicken (mid-wing and drumette)
  • 225g tapioca starch
  • 225g potato starch
  • 24g baking powder
  • 1.5 litres of vegetable oil (for frying)

Method:

1. Make a brine by whisking salt into the water until it dissolves

2. Add chicken to brine and leave it, fully submerged, for 3 hours

3. In a pan or deep fat fryer heat oil to 180°C (check with a thermometer)

4. Mix tapioca starch, potato starch and baking powder until combined

5. Coat brined chicken in the dry ingredients

6. Dredge in cold water and coat in dry mix again

7. Place chicken, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil for 6 minutes or until golden brown

8. Allow to cool on a rack

9. Repeat in small batches with remaining chicken

Gochujang Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 200g gochujang paste
  • 60ml mirin
  • 70ml so
  • 4g sesame oil
  • 60ml shiro dashi
  • 60ml rice wine vinegar

Preparation:

 1. Whisk all ingredients together

This can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks

Tips from Sake Jr:

  • Always use clean oil to prevent tainting JFC with other food flavours and the taste of stale oil
  • Brining the chicken adds texture and thoroughly seasons the flesh throughout, creating irresistible and flavoursome JFC
  • Cooling chicken on a rack allows excess oil to drip below, which prevents chicken becoming soggy and creates the ultimate crispness
  • Be organised: have all your equipment on hand and ingredients ready to go, because good
  • JFC requires prompt preparation and speedy cooking to create the perfect piping hot and crisp fried chicken

For a full list of locations of Sake Jr venues head to their website HERE.

Images supplied.

———-

This content has recently been ported from its original home on The AU Review: Food & Lifestyle and may have formatting errors – images may not be showing up, or duplicated, and galleries may not be working. We are slowly fixing these issue. If you spot any major malfunctions making it impossible to read the content, however, please let us know at editor AT theaureview.com.

Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.