Caramelized Sherry Chicken

We made this a lot when we lived in Beijing. Chicken legs were easy to get, and you could find the most delicious flower and fruit wines. I think my favorite of all was the Hawthorne apple/berry wine, but in the absence of that there was a line of wines from Korea that were also excellent, including blackberry and plum wine. You could even buy them at Carrefour, the local big supermarket. To make this tasty depends on the wine and honey you use. Fruity sherry or port is a good substitute if you can’t find the fruit wines.

Chop and fry in a little oil

1 scallion
2 pieces ginger
4 whole chicken legs (cut into two pieces) with skin
***a note on this. If you have skinless legs and try to flour them to keep the juices in, the sauce ends up muddled, and the flour burns. Better to use chicken with skin.
Pour off the oil. You can remove the skin if you like at this point.

Mix together and then add to pan:
½ cup sherry, or any of the sweet Chinese wines,
like Guihua (Osmanthus), Plum Wine, or Hawthorn wine
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
¼ tsp. salt

Simmer until done. Watch for burning. Sugar burns in that moment you turn around and look back again.