To kick off Memorial Day weekend, our friend Joanna hosted an awesome Game of Thrones barbecue that was full of cleverly themed dishes like Nightshade punch, Theon’s Dick Sausage, Moongate Pies, and Battle of Blackwater cupcakes.

I made some dragon wings that were coated in a sauce of several ingredients that we’ve just had kicking around in our regrigerator and freezer. The result was something pleasantly spicy, sour, sweet, and just slightly numbing.

I started by making a simple syrup with chicken stock, palm sugar, cane sugar, ginger, sour orange juice, and peel. Then I infused some old duck confit fat with sichuan peppercorns and used that to saute some some mulato peppers, fresh habaneros, and pickled mustard root. The two were blended together and then brushed on the chicken wings after they were confited and grilled.

I added just a dash of fish sauce because the glaze was already pretty well seasoned, probably from the confit fat and the mustard root?

I’d love to be able to whip up this sauce every time I’m grilling chicken, but it’s a collection of ingredients that aren’t so easy to come by. That duck fat was perfumed with star anise and fennel seed, as well as a few dozen duck thighs from our SE Asian supper club two years ago. The chili peppers, sichuan peppercorns, and sour orange aren’t exactly common grocery aisle items, and the pickled mustard root is pretty much exclusively available in an asian grocer.

It was fairly easy to throw together. I doubt I’ll be able to do it again any time soon… *sigh