What is Jumping1ton? Is that the name of a Gym? Why is it called the Jumping1ton Chicken Cutlet?

When my wife was running the restaurant, we were constantly getting these questions a lot over the years.  As you may already guess by now, this is the name of the shop that created and served this chicken dish. Here is a little background on Jumping1ton. Jumping1ton was started with the idea of bringing Shanghainese wonton with a twist to the US.  Like most Asian wonton recipes,  Shanghainese wonton is soup based.   And here is the twist, Jumping1ton served them fried. However, it should not be confused with those served in “Americanized” Chinese restaurants.  Those are usually just a piece of wonton wrapper with a tiny bit of meat ,served deep fried.

The shop name Jumping1ton is play on the word “wonton” as in “one ton”, hence 1ton. And where does Jumping fit in it?  In order to understand it, you will need to have an open mind stretching your imagination. Just imagine dropping the wonton into a fryer, as the wonton cook, it will be moving up, down, and around in the fryer in a sort of hopping/jumping kind of way.  Well regardless of opinions, I think it is a catchy name for a restaurant. There were a few negatives comments on the name, but overall after seeing the menu, most people were receptive of its “weird” name.

So what has this got to do with chicken cutlet?  Jumping1ton plan was to introduce true Shanghainese wonton to the States in a fried form since fried foods are popular here.  However, the idea of having a shop that just serve fried wonton might not be a great business model to start, especially if peoper are unfamiliar with fried wonton. This is especially true if you have limited promotional budget.  In addition,using this shop as a Proof of Concept for future franchising is a recipe for disaster. Just imagine if you walk into a unfamiliar restaurant and see a menu you are not familiar with. It is quite possible that you will walk out politely and never coming back.   In order to convert someone who walk in into a customer, we needed something on the menu they are familiar with, such as sandwiches.

In order to accomplish this, we decided to create a sandwich category to complement our  wonton menu.  Our plan was to eventually phase out the sandwich when our wonton becomes the reason for people stopped by.  However, as in life, always expect the unexpected. No amount of planning can assure you that everything will going according to plan. As it turn out the sandwiches offering took a life of its own and became a star of its own. Enough about Jumping1ton (maybe a Jumping1ton story would make a good article for Lesson learned running a restaurant).

Let us get to this recipe, a chicken sandwich was needed that is unique in flavor and presentation. In addition, the ingredients must be what the shop already have and the end product must be reusable for other dishes.  Unlike most chicken sandwiches, where chicken breast is used and dry seasoned.  This recipe will be using chicken thighs in a wet marinade.  The recipe here is Jumping1ton creation and not plagarize from other sources.  If anything listed here is similar to other sources or yours, it is totally coincidental. The wet marinade is something that I used for marinading chicken wings and drumstick for the grill. It has be refined over the years as my cooking skill improved.