Justin Peterson
Pork ramen and a sushi roll walk into a bar….
If you’re Justin Peterson, you combine these two menu stars into a winning Japanese Sticky Wing.
“I came up with this dish for a food competition as an appetizer submission. It won judges’ and people’s choice,” says Peterson, Executive Chef of 16 outlets at Copper Mountain Resort, including Storm King Lounge—a sushi and ramen house. He fused those two Japanese favorites together, combining the most popular sushi roll on the menu with the pork ramen bowl.
He starts with a frenched chicken drumstick, rubbing it with togarashi and letting it rest overnight. He then sears and braises it. “The drummies are then fried, dipped in hot teriyaki and plated over a pickled golden beet salad with pickled onion,” says Peterson. Dynamite sauce goes over top, with scallion and fried ramen noodles as a garnish.
“The fusion between the braising liquid that we normally use to braise our pork shoulder for our ramen bowl and the teriyaki and dynamite from our popular sushi roll work very well,” he says. “The contrast of spicy-sweet from the teriyaki, the kick of the dynamite mayo, the tender braised fried chicken, the crunch of fried ramen noodle, and the pickle of the beet salad provides flavors that really pop. The ‘Aha!’ moment was using the braise and dynamite, plus teriyaki—once I tried that, I knew I had something very good.” Peterson says they sold roughly 80 lbs. of wings in the first week—a winning combination indeed.
