Frog Legs: Korean fried style, for leap day

Korean fried chicken wings are delightfully crunchy, and we found the treatment works really well with frog legs too. If you add chili pepper to the dredge and slurry, it gives them a heat which reminds me of Buffalo wings. The meat is sweet and more tender than chicken wings, a treat.

Look at that delicate crispy coating!

We've taken Serious Eats excellent recipe for Korean wings and rewritten it to separate the dredge and slurry ingredients. We're not including any sauce here because I don't think it's necessary and there are so many choices (a Gochuchang-based Buffalo sauce could be fun).

We found the frog legs at the H-Mart Korean supermarket; interestingly, one store had perfect sized ones, and the other had a different packaging where they were larger than we wanted for chicken-wing-sized handhelds; legs from a Chinese supermarket were scrawny and more boney; all were farm grown in Vietnam. Look for about 6-8 pairs per pound to get the right size, a little over an ounce for each leg you'd serve.

1 Kg    2 Lb    Frog Legs, about 12-16 pairs
1 liter 1 Qt    Oil for frying: peanut or vegetable

Dredge:
 90 g   3/4 C   Cornstarch
 30 g   6 tsp   Kosher Salt
 30 g   6 tsp   Cayenne Pepper
7.5 g   1.5 tsp Baking Powder

Slurry:
 70 g   1/2 C   Cornstarch
 10 g   2 tsp   Kosher Salt
  3 g   1/2 tsp Baking Powder
 70 g   1/2 C   Flour, All Purpose
  5 g   2 tsp   Cayenne Pepper
120 ml  1/2 C   Cold Water
120 ml  1/2 C   Vodka

Cut the frog leg pairs into individual legs, pat dry.

Separate each pair, easy with a decent knife

Combine the Dredge ingredients in a large ziptop baggie, drop in a few frog legs, seal, and shake to coat.
Shake off excess dredge and lay on rack over pan.
Repeat with all frog legs.
Let dry 30 minutes to overnight in the fridge

Dusted and rested overnight in the fridge

Heat the Oil to 180C/350F.
Whisk the dry Slurry ingredients, stir in the Water and Vodka; it should be the consistency of thin paint, if not, adjust with a bit more vodka or corn starch. (the Vodka prevents the development of gluten which would make the coating more chewy, like southern fried chicken, instead of crispy).
Pour Slurry into a ziptop bag.
Add all legs, seal bag, and shake, rattle and roll to coat evenly.
Remove each frog leg, let excess drip back into baggie, and add to the Oil.
Continue to add all the legs, perhaps in batches, to avoid over-crowding.
Fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

First time, I dipped in a bowl, but coating in a bag was easier

Remove to a wire rack.
Eat while hot.

Close-up of finished legs