Feral Cooks

Good food shouldn't be tame

Post-Thanksgiving post 2025

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Yet another dramatic sunset!

Another Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror here in the U.S. Coinciding with Thanksgiving every year is our wedding anniversary and my birthday, so it’s quite a week!

Our Thanksgiving this year had a bit of a “steakhouse” theme with steakhouse favorites sous vide-cooked and pan-seared ribeyes and New York strip steaks, and this oustanding Mac & Cheese made with cavatappi and Jarlsberg. Preceded by various snacks, tropical fruit salad and rendang-style chicken wings, it was an outstanding meal that left us all with meat comas. We finished off with a local creamery’s ice cream and these delicious caramel chocolate-chunk cookies.

Sweet and Salty Chicken Wings

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We at the Feral Cooks like to attempt to invent different types of chicken wing recipes. This is one of those. I mixed sugar and fish sauce as a marinade, hence, the name. These turned out quite good. After all, it’s hard to go wrong with marinated deep-fried chicken wings.

What you’ll need

  • 0.33 cups fish sauce
  • 0.33 cups sugar (white, brown or ground-up palm)
  • 2T spring roll sauce (optional)
  • 2T starch (corn or potato)
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 lbs. chicken wings—drumettes and flats
  • 0.75 cups starch (corn or potato)
  • Enough neutral oil for deep-frying
  • Chopped cilantro (as an optional garnish)

What to do

Thoroughly mix the fish sauce, sugar, spring roll sauce and starch in a small bowl. Add the marinade to a 1-gallon sealable bag, along with the garlic and wings. Seal the bag and distribute the marinade so the wings are soaking in it. Refrigerate and marinade for up to 4 hours, turning the bag every so often.

When you’re ready to cook, heat about 2 or 3 inches of neutral oil to 350 degrees F in your preferred cooking vessel.

While the oil is heating, pour the marinade from the bag into a small saucepan. Add 3T sugar and mix it in. Begin heating over low-medium heat until it reaches a strong simmer—let it simmer to thicken up.

Dredge each chicken wing in the starch and set it on a plate until the oil reaches cooking temperature. Working in batches, cook the wings in the oil for 5 – 10 minutes, depending on size. When cooked to temperature, remove from the oil to a rack or paper-towel-lined plate.

When the wings are all cooked, check the sugar/fish sauce mixture that’s been simmering. If too salty, add more sugar, to taste.

Add the hot wings to a serving platter, then drizzle the sugar sauce over them, along with chopped cilantro, if using.

Thai Curry Rice Noodles and Shrimp

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This Thai-curry-style stir-fry is quick and easy to make. The ingredients listed here are just a guide, as you could throw just about anything in with the sauce and it would be good. Don’t skip the shrimp, though, it really makes the dish.

What you’ll need

  • 8 oz (226g) dried rice noodles
  • 2T neutral oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or minced
  • 2T prepared curry paste, any color works
  • 2T chopped lemongrass
  • 0.25 cups shallots, chopped, or 6 green onions, chopped
  • 5 oz coconut cream or milk (the thicker cream will deliver better results)
  • 2T fish sauce
  • 10 – 15 shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 5 – 10 lime leaves, cut into strips (center vein removed)
  • 0.25 cups basil leaves, chopped
  • Lime wedges, optional

What to do

Cook the rice noodles according to directions. Set aside.

Do your mise en place before heating the oil in a wok over medium heat. When it reaches cooking temperature, add the garlic, curry paste, lemon grass and shallots/green onions. Cook until softened—about 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium high.

Add the coconut cream, fish sauce, shrimp and lime leaves, cooking until the shrimp is cooked through—about 5 – 8 minutes, depending on shrimp size.

Add the noodles and toss them in the curry sauce for a few minutes until they’re up to serving temperature.

Serve hot with basil leaves for topping, and lime wedges.