Yamachan Chicken Wings (Nagoya Style Tebasaki)

Featured Comment:

“This past summer, I met my nephew and his family in Nagoya for the July Grand Sumo Tournament. We visited the original Yamachan in Sakae. Yamachan’s tebasaki are indeed a standout and frankly addictive. Your recipe is simple and brings the delicious chicken wings to life for me half way around the globe.”

– Tommy

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What Are “Nagoya” Style Chicken Wings?

Nagoya is a large city in central Japan and is very close to where I live! I used to work there, so I’ve been there countless times, meaning I’ve had countless Nagoya-style wings. It’s safe to say I grew up with them.

There are many amazing “Nagoyameshi” (名古屋飯) dishes that this city is famous for. There’s miso katsu (pork cutlet with red miso sauce), miso udon, and hitsumabushi (grilled eel). Still, I have to say that one of my absolute favorites is “Nagoya Tebasaki.”

Nagoya Tebasaki (Nagoya style chicken wings) are delicious crispy deep-fried chicken wings brushed with a special glaze and then generously dusted with fine white pepper.

These Nagoya-style chicken wings are famous all over Japan. If you’ve ever been to Nagoya, I’m sure you’ve at least seen food displays of them piled up high. You’ll need a large portion because they are so delicious, I could eat them all day!

What Does “Tebasaki” Mean?

Tebasaki is the Japanese word for “wing tip” and refers to chicken wings. This dish always uses the whole wing with the bones in.

The funny thing is, as a person from this area, almost everyone is pro at eating chicken wings. We can eat them without leaving any meat on the bones. I thought it was the normal way to eat chicken wings, but apparently, this is a skill that people from this region have.

I’d say it’s a nice skill to have, though, as you would not leave any precious meat on tasty chicken wings!

Nagoya-style fried chicken wings began in 1963 with an enterprising man named Kenko Ohtsubo. Before his move, Ohtsubo had been managing a quaint izakaya—a Japanese-style pub—in his hometown. He sparked an idea during this period, combining savory sauces with crispy fried chicken (karaage). He tirelessly experimented, tweaking and refining his sauce until he achieved the perfect balance of flavors that birthed a menu standout called “Tarzan-yaki (ターザン焼き).”

Upon his arrival in Nagoya, Ohtsubo’s Tarzan-yaki rapidly amassed a fanbase. However, one day, he found himself without the chicken for his star dish due to an unfortunate ordering error. His kitchen seemed in jeopardy, threatening the day’s service.

Just when things looked bleak, a ray of culinary inspiration struck Ohtsubo. His gaze fell upon a humble pile of chicken wings. An overlooked item usually relegated to soup broths, the wings seemed to glisten with untapped potential. A spark ignited, “Why not infuse these wings with that sauce?” he wondered.

This happy accident led to a culinary masterpiece that exceeded expectations. The innovative use of chicken wings proved delicious and economical, soon elevating the dish to the bestseller of his menu.

In this fashion, Nagoya became the epicenter of fried chicken wings. However, this success did not come without turbulence. The rise in popularity triggered what locals call the “Tebasaki Warring Period”, a flavorful chapter that would add a generous sprinkle of intrigue to Nagoya’s culinary history.

Yamachan vs Furaibo “Tebasaki War”

This region has two main Nagoya-style Tebasaki chains, Yamachan (山ちゃん) and Furaibo (風来坊). They both offer amazing chicken wings, and I recommend both.

However, the taste and style are slightly different. The history of Nagoya-style chicken wings actually came from Furaibo (Otsubo’s establishment), where the owner came up with the idea of deep frying wings that used to be used only to make broth or soup. They made the trend of “Cheap and easy karaage (fried chicken).”

Other differences are taste and style. Yamachan’s tebasaki is a lot more peppery and spicy, whereas Furaibou’s are quite sweet, I’d say. As for the style, Yamachan uses whole chicken wings; however, Furaibo only uses the middle part of the wings. Hence, they’re smaller in size.

So who won the Tebasaki War? In the sense of spreading all across Japan, Yamachan won the war. You could easily find Yamachan outside the region, especially easy to find in Tokyo. They even expanded to Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, and Malaysia!

My recipe today is more towards the Yamachan’s style! But if you have a chance to come to Nagoya, don’t forget to try historical Furaibo too! You won’t regret it!

How to Store

Like other fried chicken, Nagoya-style fried chicken wings can also be frozen. If frozen while still hot, they will be watery when thawed, so it is important to drain the oil and cool them well. Check the surface temperature beforehand.

Ideally, they should also be frozen before coating them with sauce. You can apply the sauce after reheating it in the oven.

These Nagoya-style fried chicken wings can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container or ziplock bag for about 3 days and frozen for about 2 months.