Category News & Events

Parties That Cook Reflects on a Great Inaugural Portland Event

Parties That Cook is all about making event dreams come true. In our 12 years of business, we have accommodated some pretty off-the-wall requests. (We even created a new event, per request!) So when we got a call from a PwC event planner asking if we could host a corporate team building event in Portland, OR, we were up for the challenge!

To be fair, the rumors of an impending Parties That Cook launch in Portland later this summer are in fact true, so this request felt like a wonderful affirmation, albeit a challenge to pull off! Carolyn, PTC’s Operations Manager and amazing Lead Chef, offered to lead the event with the help of Crissy, our Vice President of Sales and Marketing and a wonderful chef, as well! Luckily, our completely mobile kitchen concept allowed us to transport everything we needed from San Francisco to Portland, including 30 brand new chefs knives. The venue, KitchenCru, is a gorgeous new commercial kitchen space in the heart of downtown Portland and they provided the bulk of the cookware. With this team and a great new venue, we were set up for a successful event!

The PwC group elected to host a Small Plates event with a competitive twist — and it was an intense competition! (All in good fun, of course…) Teams worked together on different small plates recipes and a group of 6 managers and partners from PwC were the judges. During the cooking, judges walked around the stations to observe participants interacting with each other. At the end, the judges conducted a great follow-up session, asking everyone how their experience working together tied into the PwC company values they’d been learning about during their week of recruit activities.



The judges, who had experienced a Parties That Cook event in Seattle in the past, thought this was one of the most creative groups they’d seen! They loved the presentation of the Fried Vegetable Samosas with Indian Green Chutney and that the Little Fish Tacos with Tomato Salad and Chipotle-Lime Crema team garnished their platter with the letters PWC made from cilantro stems.



In the end, however, the winning team was the Ground Sirloin Sliders with Smoky Cheddar Cheese. They worked well together, went above and beyond the call of duty with grilled buns, and created a great presentation.


We are thrilled that our first Portland team building event was such a hit, and surely hope that it’s a sign of good things to come! Now stay tuned for that “official” launch…

Fry Up Flavor this Father’s Day with Parties That Cook’s Sweet ‘n Sour Fried Chicken Wings

Haven’t you heard? Wings are the hot new thing! We know you’re cool, so if you want to celebrate Father’s Day in style this Sunday, this NEW Parties That Cook recipe is sure to help! We love these Sweet and Sour Korean Fried Chicken Wings so much, we’re featuring them in our NEW Brews and Bites cooking class in Chicago!

Here in San Francisco, everyone’s buzzing about Wings Wings — the cool new house of wing-y awesomeness on Haight Street. Wings Wings is serving up domesticated fowl that are deep fried and doused with a variety of glazes (check out the Jerk, a sweet/spicy signature Wing).

Sweet and Sour Korean Fried Chicken Wings
This recipe can also be found in our Appetizer Recipe Library!

Ingredients Smaller Sweet and Sour Korean Fried Chicken Wings

Soy Ginger Glaze:
1 cup water
1 cup ginger, thinly sliced
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon Sriracha

Chicken Wings:
1 cup Wondra flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
3 pounds chicken wings and drummettes (washed and patted dry)

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Methods/Steps

Make Glaze: In a small saucepan, add the water, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar. Bring to boil. Then add the honey and Sriracha. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half. It will be a thick maple syrup-like consistency. Remove ginger and discard. Set glaze aside.

Heat Oil: Heat the canola oil in a large frying pan to 350°F.

Coat Chicken Wings: Place the Wondra, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture to get a fine light coat.

Fry Wings: Working in small batches with a spider or skimmer, gently lower the wings into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd and adjust heat to ensure temperature remains at 350°F. Fry for 5 minutes. Transfer wings to a cooling rack placed on top of a sheet pan to drain and allow to cool. Keep the wings in a single layer so you know which ones were fried first and thus, cooled earlier.

RE-FRY Wings: Ensure the temperature of the oil is still at 350°F. Starting with the wings that came out of the fryer first, re-fry the wings until crispy golden brown, about another 5 minutes. Drain again and repeat until all of the wings have been double fried.

Glaze Wings: In a big bowl, toss wings with glaze to evenly coat. Then toss in cilantro and sesame seeds. Transfer to serving platter.

Serves/Makes

Serves 24. Recipe adapted by Parties That Cook® from RavenousCouple.com

Get out and enjoy the sun with Dad! Maybe go on a hike and work up an appetite, then come home and cook up some delicious wings!
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!