Korean Fried Chicken Dip & A Noble Blend
THE BEST KFC burger in the world (or at least in Calgary), turned into a freaking DIP!
Hello my dip loving friends. Another week has passed, it has gotten a HECK of a lot colder, and things got a little temporarily challenging in my life! We took baby J to get one her vaccines earlier this week and she ended up with some side effects (a bit of a fever and was very uncomfortable) on the same damn night that I ended up with some kind of stomach bug. Talk about awful timing. Thank goodness for my wonderful hubs, and amazing timing that my in-laws flew in that day so we had some extra support, but HOLY F. Having a sick 2 month old is one thing, but knowing you can’t do anything to help her while puking every hour is a whole other level of hard! It’s been a few days now and after a ton of cuddle naps (see pic for reference) we’re both on the mend! Definitely a hard few days and we’re a bit delayed, BUT somehow I still have a dip to share with you. And it’s a good one!
Do you have one of those restaurant meals that will forever be a ‘go-to’ of yours? Something so delicious you can’t help but always order the exact same thing? I DO. And this is super rare for me because I love trying new things, so you have to believe me when I say it’s the best thing ever. (and yes, I tend to hyperbolize a lot). I’m talking about the Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich from Last Best Brewing & Distilling in Calgary. This is the most flavour-packed, saucy, messy, perfectly delicious sandwich. Justin (the hubs) and I love trying new restaurants for date nights, but at least a few times a year we’ll end up at Last Best to get a KFC burger and a big ol’ pint of their Tokyo Drift IPA (maybe the best beer in the world).
Why am I telling you this? Last week, we went to Last Best for the first time since having Josie, and inspiration struck hard. As I was sitting there, eating my saucy burger with a baby strapped to my chest (covered in napkins to catch the drip), I thought “How good would a Korean Fried Chicken DIP be?”.
Taking inspiration from my Hot Chicken Sandwich Dip, I asked for an order of their fried chicken with their insanely delicious sauce on the side and got to work. And my friends, IT. WAS. AWESOME. I know you won’t be able to re-create this to a T if you don’t have access to this magical sauce, but I included a link to a recipe if you want to make your own! Or even better, find a delish KFC sandwich near you and use their chicken and sauce!
What to Pair
This dip is creeaamy and absolutely packed with flavour and spice. It needs a wine that can stand up to it without being overpowered, but that will also cleanse the palate and not amplify the spice.
I thought of a few potential pairing options for this one: An orange wine would have been awesome, like the one I posted about last week. Orange wine tends to have the flavour complexity to stand up to the KFC flavours, the acidity to cleanse the palate, and low enough alcohol that it won’t amp up the heat! A Tavel Rosé was another option, with similar flavour complexity and acidity, plus some lovely fruit notes to balance all that savoury umami deliciousness. I ended up going with the Joie Farm ‘A Noble Blend’ - a lovely Canadian blend from the Naramata Bench in South Okanagan of mostly Gewürztraminer and Riesling. It has the tiniest hint of sweet with a lush mouthfeel, vibrant acidity, and tons of intense flavours from crisp apple and sweet lychee to fresh florals and spices. This pairing was spot on. It complimented the dip in all the best ways, acting as both a palate cleanser and flavour amplifier. I also love that it has low enough alcohol not to amp up the chili heat, and not so much sweetness that it completely tempers the spice (because what’s a KFC anything without spice?!). Highly recommend you give this one a try if you can find it!
Korean Fried Chicken Dip
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