Thrifty immigrant chefs would probably skip the wings these days. The Buffalo wing craze and chicken wing chain restaurants are partly to blame for that. Those wings that were so cheap in the вЂ80s are now the most expensive part of the chicken (by the pound). Still, itвЂ™s hard to imagine the dish being invented today. Even celebrity foodie Guy Fieri has a recipe for these chicken lollipops. This little invention forged in Albany Park kitchens has become a nationwide culinary hit. But both retain their loyal followings for a dish that remains a top seller on both menus - and beyond. Today, both Great Sea and Take Me Out have been bought by another Chinese-Korean family. But customer demand for the lollipop style proved too great and the restaurant eventually returned to it. The frenching process was so time-consuming that Jennifer and her sister Karen Lim initially skipped it when they opened their own wing joint, Take Me Out, in Pilsen. вЂњWeвЂ™d break two parts of the joint, and then cut each section of the wing, and then the tip is thrown out.вЂќ To get that handle, she explains, you need to go through a three-step process. So he by pushing all the meat down on the bone so you have a kind of handle.вЂќ вЂњBut wanted to make it cleaner and easier. вЂњMy mom and dad loved eating wings,вЂќ Jennifer Tiao says of her now-retired parents. But not before Nai Tiao added one more innovation: the lollipop handle. The combo of wings and sauce would help catapult Great Sea into a regional foodie destination. (The sauce became popular enough that, today, Great Sea even sells it at the counter.) So Nai Tiao added a generous gush of sweet, chili-flecked sauce that would eventually become a key aspect of the Chicago dish. Why not make a whole bunch of it so you can dip it in and eat it?вЂ™вЂќ вЂњ Gam pong gi wings were originally supposed to be dry and served fried with no sauce ,вЂќ Tiao says. Jennifer Tiao says thatвЂ™s where her father, Nai Tiao, had been doing some tinkering of his own. Just a few blocks east of Hsing-TsengвЂ™s restaurant on Lawrence Avenue was another Korean-inspired Chinese restaurant called Great Sea. So everybody has the wings now.вЂќД«ut the evolution didnвЂ™t end there. Then he created these, and it became very popular. вЂњSo he started to find something to not waste this part. вЂњThis was in 1983, and my uncle thought this was too waste-y,вЂќ says Roger Kao. In 1980s America, though, they were seen as cheap junk cuts - so much so that some folks threw them away. Why wings? Because the Chinese have always prized this tasty part. (HeвЂ™s retired and shy, so we learned details of his story from his nephew Roger Kao, who today happens to own Great Beijing at Pratt Avenue and Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood.) Roger explains that, for years, his uncle Hsing-Tseng had been cooking a traditional Shandong-style dish called gam pong gi, which in Koreanized Chinese means вЂњdry stir-fried chicken.вЂќ It featured deep-fried pieces of chicken (from the whole bird or just boneless nubbins) tossed with hot chilis and garlic.Д«ut then one day, Hsing-Tseng had an idea: Make the dish with just chicken wings. The first chef was Hsing-Tseng Kao, who opened Peking Mandarin on Lawrence Avenue in 1983. Each made his own special tweaks to a traditional dish. The story of this dish is really an immigration tale that starts with two chefs who operated restaurants just a few blocks apart. Their origin storyвЂ™s compelling enough that weвЂ™re adding these wings to our growing list of foods invented in Chicago, which we started while answering a question from Chicagoan Rebbie Kinsella. But weвЂ™ve got a surprise for you: These sweet, fiery chicken lollipops were invented in Chicago!

If you asked most fans of gam pong gi wings where the dish came from, theyвЂ™d probably guess Korea or even China. Originally called gam pong gi wings, theyвЂ™re juicy chicken chunks, smooshed to one end of a bone, then deep fried and slathered in a sweet, spicy sauce. Whether you call them chicken lollipops, spicy Asian wings or little hotties, they inspire love and loyalty from snackers across the country. To stay up to date on the stories that matter. WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information.

Korean fried chicken chicago