It has that perfectly tastebud-mesmerizing combination of flavors that, once we start eating it, we can’t seem to get enough of; with that toasty and nutty warmth of sesame oil, the mild heat of freshly cracked black pepper, the slightly lemony and spicy kick from fresh ginger, the warm pungency from garlic, the sweetness of brown sugar, or my favorite, Coca-Cola, and the “umami-ness” (is that a word?) of dark soy sauce.

And all of those bold and aromatic flavors work so perfectly well together with meat when it comes to the marination of it, or when combined into a finishing glaze, especially for tasty finger-food types of meat like little chicken drumettes—the larger, more succulent part of the chicken wing.

Put Korean flavors together with those tender victuals, and you’ve got some stellar snacking, or the best , you’ve ever had, my friend.

Chicken wings are the type of finger-licking snack or appetizer that when you see them on a menu at a restaurant or local pizza chain, you get that hankering to order them. Heck, my hubs gets them as an accompaniment almost every time we place an order for pizza for our occasional pizza night.

But really, they’re not a menu item that is difficult to prepare, and to prepare deliciously well, to boot. The key is adding as much great flavor to them as possible, giving them a quick fry, and then tossing them in a glossy sauce that’ll leave your mouth shiny and your fingers messy. Anything less than a mess just wouldn’t be quite as fun, right?

So this week I thought I’d take the opportunity to “wing it” a little with a bone-sucking and sweet-sticky and spicy recipe for chicken wings to give us something umami-ful (let’s make that a word!) to get our fingers and possibly even our chinny-chin-chins good and messy over.

Korean tastiness, Coca-cola and chicken? Wings have never had it so sweet.