Larry Edwards, owner of the Grand Hotel Restaurant in Big Timber, Montana sent this note and recipe in response to Heidi’s last post about Bánh Mi:

Heidi,
Thank you for reminding me of the wonderful food of Vietnam. Banh Mi was a great quick lunch in Vung Tau, a city on the South China Sea in the southern part on the country. Another dish that always rocked my young taste buds was a chicken dish in caramel sauce. Chicken Wings in caramel sauce and ginger. I haven’t made it in years but will soon. It’s a dish I had often in many variations as the sauce seemed to be in many of the homes I was invited into and was incorporated in many ways.

The sauce is very easy but can very smelly to make so I always have the vent over the stove on full blast and the windows open.

1/3 cup of sugar
¼ cup nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
4 shallots, thinly sliced
Fresh ground black pepper

Cook the sugar in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, swirling the pan constantly, until brown.  It will smoke slightly.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir the fish sauce into the caramel, be careful as it will splatter and bubble vigorously. If the windows aren’t open you will be reminded of this sauce for days.

Return the sauce to low heat and gently boil until sugar is completely dissolved, about two minutes. Add the shallots and ground pepper to taste. Cool completely, if you add cold food to the sauce while it is warm it will harden, crystallize.

To Make the Chicken Wings use
2 pounds Chicken Wings cut into pieces
1 tablespoon finely shredded fresh ginger.

In a sauce pan add the chicken wing pieces and shredded ginger to the cooled caramel sauce. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. At this point I put the wings on a very hot charcoal grill for another 10 minutes then return to the sauce and serve.

Stay tuned for the next post from Heidi where she will write about testing this delicious recipe.