Nagoya-style tebasaki (fried chicken wings) · Photo: Geographer / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
JapanNagoyaNagoya Tebasaki: How Wing Tips Once Used Only for Stock Became the King of Beer Snacks
In a Nagoya izakaya, "tebasaki" does not mean a cut of chicken but a dish: crisp fried wings brushed with a sweet-savory glaze and finished with pepper and sesame. Here is the story of how it began in 1963, what makes it taste the way it does and how to eat it cleanly down to the bone.
In Nagoya, "Tebasaki" Is the Name of a Dish
Tebasaki originally just means the wing tip of a chicken. In Nagoya and the surrounding Chukyo area, though, most people hearing the word think not of a cut but of a dish: tebasaki karaage, chicken wings fried, brushed with a glaze and sprinkled with salt, pepper and white sesame. The skin is crackly, and the sweet-savory glaze plus the bite of pepper makes you reach for a beer. That is why it is mostly eaten as a drinking snack in izakaya, and it is counted among the signature Nagoya meshi alongside hitsumabushi and miso katsu. It is sometimes compared to American Buffalo wings, but instead of being tossed in a hot sauce it gets a thin coat of glaze and is flavored mainly with spices.
A Story That Began in Atsuta in 1963
The original tebasaki karaage is credited to a chicken restaurant in Nagoya. Its owner had earlier sold a dish called "Tarzan-yaki" in Kokura, Kitakyushu, in Fukuoka Prefecture: half a chicken, deep-fried and brushed with a secret sauce. After opening his restaurant in Atsuta Ward, Nagoya, in 1963, he deep-fried chicken wing tips, which at the time were used only for making stock, glazed them the same way, and the dish caught on with customers. Accounts differ on why he turned to wings. One says a supply mix-up left him without whole chickens so he served wings instead; another says he got the idea after seeing a pile of wings at his supplier. Sources vary. Either way, a cheap cut that was almost thrown away has become one of Nagoya's signature flavors.
The Flavor: Glaze Plus Spice
Nagoya-style tebasaki is fried without a thick batter so the skin turns crisp, then brushed with a sweet-savory soy-based glaze and finished with salt, pepper and white sesame. The glaze is a thin coating rather than a soak, so the wings stay crunchy even when you eat them with your fingers. Part of the fun is how distinct each shop is. Places in the original lineage lead with the sweet glaze and nutty sesame, while one well-known chain is famous for pepper so heavy it makes your tongue tingle. Plenty of travelers visit two or three places to compare. Salty and aromatic, tebasaki goes especially well with beer or a highball, and since a plate usually holds several pieces, it is ideal for sharing.
How to Eat It Down to Clean Bones
Tebasaki is finger food. Hold the wing in a V shape and snap it at the middle joint, separating the meaty mid-wing (tebanaka) from the pointed tip. The tip is mostly bone and skin, so just enjoy the crispy skin. The mid-wing contains two bones. Hold both ends and pull the meat off with your front teeth as if combing it away, and the meat slides off, leaving only clean bones; doing this neatly is considered something of a skill. The trick at the start is to snap the joint decisively. Your fingers will get sticky from the glaze, so most places hand out plenty of wet towels, and some put a separate dish on the table for bones. Rather than ordering a whole chicken, you order by the number of wings.
Where to Eat It
You can find tebasaki almost anywhere in Nagoya. Izakaya chains that make it their headline dish are everywhere around Nagoya Station, Sakae and Nishiki, and ordinary izakaya usually have it on the standard menu too. Evening is when it really comes into its own, so a popular plan is hitsumabushi or miso nikomi udon by day and tebasaki with beer at night. Many places also sell it to take away, which makes for an easy beer-and-wings night in your hotel room. On a first visit, try both the sweet original style and the fiery peppery style to find your favorite. The glaze contains soy sauce and sugar, so check before ordering if you have dietary restrictions.