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This article was published 03/04/2021 (2023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fried chicken is more than just comfort food for chef Mark Merano. The deep-fried, finger lickin’ delicacy has become a way to stay connected with friends and a source of culinary inspiration during the pandemic.

Merano, 30, is the executive chef at James Avenue Pumphouse, a new restaurant opening this summer inside the revamped former pumping station at 109 James Ave. in the east Exchange District. After years of sous-cheffing, this will be his first opportunity to lead a kitchen and create a menu that’s entirely his own — high on the list is his recipe for Korean fried chicken.

“When I first made it, right away I jumped for joy,” he says. “Then my fiancée had it and now it’s one of those things where… she doesn’t want to have any other fried chicken than mine.”

Merano’s version starts with marinated chicken thighs battered in potato starch — the best breading, in his opinion — and double fried for extra crunch. The crispy nuggets are then tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce made from gochujang, a fermented Korean red chili paste that provides a hit of umami.

The dish has also gotten rave reviews from buddies. Merano has been testing recipes non-stop during lockdown and dropping takeout containers on doorsteps to share his experiments with friends.

“Some were saying, ‘Hey, can you sell this? I’d buy it every week, every day even,” he says. “Everyone enjoyed it and I like making food that makes everyone happy.”

Food has been central to some of his closest and longest friendships.

Merano doesn’t come from a particularly foodie family and he wasn’t following his passion when he applied at Moxie’s Bar and Grill when he was 18 years old. He was just looking for a job.

“I started off as a dishwasher… and then I kind of moved up the ladder and started cooking here and there,” he says. “After a couple of years I thought to myself, ‘Hey, what am I doing? Let’s kick it up a notch.’ So, I got more in-depth with learning how to cook and I would say my whole time with Moxie’s was kind of my school.”

He’s spent more than a decade working for the company at nearly every location in the city — he even relocated to Fort McMurray for a few years to work at a Moxie’s restaurant there, returning when the pandemic hit.

“It was a complete change from being in Winnipeg, it was a smaller town… everyone there was just there to work, so you kind of just work, go home, work, go home,” he says. “Me and my fiancée learned to enjoy what we had and it made us appreciate coming back.”

Over time, Merano developed a genuine love of food and cooking. He started entering in-house cooking contests and developing his own style outside of work hours. The Food Network was on at home 24-7 and, pre-pandemic, he hosted weekly Sunday dinners for a group of friends from his junior high days. The event was dubbed “Merano’s Bistro.”

“I would cook food for a few of my closest friends while having beers and socializing and they would even get their hands dirty and help me out; cooking is a very social thing for me,” he says. “As we grow older and our lives get busier those (dinners) are one of the things we look forward to and work our schedules around.”

These days, he’s working full-time testing recipes for Pumphouse. Merano is excited, if not a little nervous, for the next chapter.

“I feel like it’s good nervous. Throughout my career, any promotion I would get or any new experience I would hope for that nervousness because it helps you grow,” he says. “The goal at Pumphouse is a place where you can gather with your friends and eat good, drink good; kind of like (what) envisioned when I had my dinners at home on Sundays with my friends.”

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney

 

Korean fried chicken with cold pickled mint cucumbers by chef Mark Merano

Yields about six servings

As part of the food series, Homemade, food and arts reporter, Eva Wasney, makes James Avenue Pumphouse executive chef Mark Morano’s recipe for Korean fried chicken.

 

Fried Chicken

3 lbs boneless chicken thigh (cut into 1” to 1 1/2” chunks)
30 ml (2 Tbsp) rice wine or rice vinegar
15 ml (1 Tbsp) grated ginger
15 ml (1 Tbsp) grated garlic
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) ground black pepper
3 egg beaten
180 ml (3/4 cup) milk
6 ml (1 1/4 tsp) gochujang chili paste

Combine all ingredients together in a container and marinate for minimum of 1 hr up to 3hrs

While chicken is marinating, prep other components to the dish.

 

Cold pickled mint cucumbers

5 ml (1 tsp) ground pepper ground
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
1 Large field cucumber sliced 1/4” or to your desired preference
240 ml (1 cup) white vinegar
50 g (1/4 cup) white sugar
1 oz mint

Combine all ingredients together in a container, refrigerate and marinate for a minimum of 1 hour up to 3 hours. Depending on your preference add more sugar if you prefer more sweetness, more vinegar if you’d like more acidity.
Once pickles and chicken have been marinated, you can move forward to fry and sauce.

 

Gochujang Sauce

Yields almost a cup of sauce which would be good enough for 1 portion of fried chicken. Also depending how saucy you like your fried chicken, I like to make extra so I have some sauce in my fridge I can use for other dishes. I’ve used this sauce on beef and pork, it’s also great as a glaze when barbecuing.

45 ml (3 Tbsp) ketchup
37.5 ml (2 1/2 Tbsp) gochujang chili paste (add more paste if you like spicy, you can use some cayenne or chili flakes for added heat)
60 ml (1/4 cup) honey
45 g (1/4 cup) brown sugar
30 ml (2 Tbsp) soy sauce
20 g (2 Tbsp) minced garlic
15 ml (1 Tbsp) sesame oil
7.5 g (1/2 Tbsp) butter

Sauté minced garlic in a sauce pan on medium heat with butter until you see some colour. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir until everything is well incorporated. Turn down the heat to low for 5 mins then take off heat. Re-warm the sauce when ready for use.

 

Chicken breading

240 g (2 cups) potato starch
60 g (1/2 cup) All-purpose flour

Start removing your chicken from the marinate and shake of any excess liquid and toss them in the chicken breading. Slightly squeeze each piece of chicken to get as much of the breading on the chicken.

Set aside the breaded chicken on a sheet pan to prepare the fry.

 

Deep frying directions

Use whatever you may have at home to deep fry (wok, soup pot, Dutch oven, etc.), if you have a table top deep fryer, great. Anything deep enough to hold enough oil to fully submerge the chicken with room to cook without overcrowding.

Fill your fryer no more than half full of oil, vegetable or canola are both suitable.

This fried chicken will need to be double fried for extra crispiness.

First fry

Heat oil to about 325F

Drop your breaded chicken (in batches) in the oil and fry for about 5-7 minutes or until chicken is lightly crisped and golden . Do not over crowd the pot, chicken should have enough room to swim.

Remove chicken from oil and place on a sheet pan to rest for 5 mins.

Second fry

While chicken is resting, skim the oil for any floaty bits then turn up the heat so your oil reaches 400F.

Once the oil is nice and hot you can put all your chicken back in to fry.

The chicken should be pretty much cooked from the first fry, the second fry is crisping them up to perfection. Frying in batches shouldn’t be necessary, if they all comfortably fit then add it all in for the second fry.

Fry chicken until deeply golden, crisp and crunchy. Internal temp of chicken should be above 160F.

Remove from oil and place on some paper towel to soak up excess oil.

Warm up gochujang fried chicken sauce then in a bowl toss your hot fried chicken with some sauce until nicely coated.

Arrange your chicken and cold pickles (removed from pickling liquid) on a plate and garnish with sesame seeds, chopped green onions and toasted peanuts.