At Home with Chinese Cuisine (15 page)
Read At Home with Chinese Cuisine Online
Authors: T P Hong
If you wish to use the same wok for the next dish, wash the wok in warm water using a sponge or cloth, rinse and dry it on the gas burner. A bamboo brush designed for scrubbing the wok can be used as well. Repeat the process of seasoning the wok.
Clean Tasting Chicken is a dish known for its clean and natural flavour because it is gently poached in nothing but simmering water. Poaching in simmering water keeps the meat moist, and by keeping the cooking temperature steadily low, the meat is less likely to toughen and dry out. Furthermore, the chicken is left to cool down in the cooking liquid; by doing so, the meat absorbs some liquid back so as to keep it moist.
It is a dish worth familiarizing yourself with because it can be served in many different ways. When chopped to size with different dips, it is a quick dish to serve and is fun to eat while playing with meat and dip matching. A tender poached chicken is used as the base for numerous time-honoured, popular chicken dishes such as drunken chicken and chicken with spring onions.
A simple dish can often be the most challenging one to prepare. This dish is a good example. The essence of this dish is to have very tender meat and springy skin with a crunch. Even though leg quarters take longer to cook than the breast meat, a good clean tasting chicken should have leg quarters just done and the breast meat succulent.
The quality of the chicken is essential, and I use organic chicken. It has firmer texture and a sweetness that battery chickens do not have. I rely on the gentle poaching at low cooking temperature to obtain the desired texture of the chicken, and the cooking time certainly plays an important part in the final result. The poaching time stated in the recipe is for reference. The size, the age, the species, and the freshness of the chicken, and whether it has been frozen, have implications on the cooking time. You therefore need to check the doneness visually towards the end of the cooking time by inserting a chopstick into the thickest part of the leg and the breast. It is done when the juice runs clear.
This is a dish you will find all over China, but it seems that in order to claim the dish to be one’s own, each area has to have its own species of chicken associated with this dish. This dish is best known as a GuangDong dish, a ZheJiang dish, and a Shanghai dish. They all have their preferred choice of species.
I will introduce two recipes here: the first one is from GuangDong Province, and the other one is from ZheJiang Province. The omission of the recipe for this dish from Shanghai is because it was a cook from the city of ShauXing, ZheJiang Province who pioneered the business of selling top quality Clean Tasting Chicken (the ZheJiang style) in Shanghai. The restaurant that bears his title, the Little ShauXing, is still in business and remains a popular venue for locals and tourists alike. Shanghainese chefs sensed the locals’ fondness for the dish and spotted the business opportunity by using a local species of the three-yellow chickens, young hens weighing between 1.5–2 kg, that firmly established the reputation of this dish in the culinary map that tourists must taste.
Clean Tasting Chicken from GuangDong Province
The chicken used in GuangDong Province is a species found in QingYuan, a town of hills and slopes. The feather on the back of the chicken has sesame-sized dots, and the skin is yellow in colour. It is said that the meat is tender because it picks tiny worms from the bamboo forests and the woodland surrounding the area. These days, this species is reared for restaurant trade all over China. You can find this chicken delivered by plane and served in Beijing in top GuangDongnese restaurants, where they swear by the flavour of the QingYuan spotted chicken. The most northern restaurant I tasted this chicken was in HaErBin in HeiLongJiang Province, the northernmost province bordering Russia to the north and east.
This recipe follows the traditional GuangDongese cooking method described as “dipping three times, submerging once, and cooling down once”, which will be explained in detail in the recipe. The cooking technique of immersing the chicken into the icy water is to give the skin a crunchy texture and a clean taste when served cold. Because the species of chicken reared in the UK are mainly for roasting, there is more fat underneath the skin than their Chinese counterparts. That is why organic chicken from reputable suppliers is recommended. It has more exercise and is in general less fatty.
The dish in this recipe is served with a light dipping sauce of finely grated ginger mixed with oil. Or you can try an all-purpose dipping sauce with the combination of garlic puree, grated ginger,
or both; good quality rice vinegar (start with the half of the quantity of garlic or ginger used, and taste to top up as desired); a small quantity of light soy sauce; a small pinch of sugar; salt and pepper; and sesame seed oil. Garlic puree mixed with naturally fermented dark soy sauce and chilli oil is another possibility.
1–1.25 kg fresh chicken For the dipping sauce: 20 g ginger 1/3 t sugar salt and pepper 40 ml (or less) grapeseed oil chilli oil (optional) | Clean and rinse the chicken thoroughly, especially inside the cavity. Put the water in a stockpot over a high heat and let the water boil away without the lid on for 2 minutes or so if you use tap water. Lift the chicken up by its ankles, and dip the whole chicken into the boiling water. Open the legs a bit so as to allow boiling water to go into the cavity. Count to 5 seconds and lift the chicken out of the water. Wait for the water to boil again, and repeat the process two more times. After the third time of dipping the chicken in the boiling water, turn the heat down to as low as necessary for the water to simmer very gently (with occasional tiny bubbles appearing on the surface of the water) for 15 minutes. Switch off the heat and leave the chicken in the cooking liquid for 30 minutes with the lid on. Check whether the chicken is done by inserting a chopstick into the thickest area of the breast and the thickest part of the thigh. When the juice runs clear, it is cooked. Otherwise, heat the cooking liquid until boiling and switch off the heat. Put the chicken back into the pot for another 10 minutes. When the chicken is done, immerse it in a bowl of ice with water to cool it down completely. When the chicken is cold, pat it dry thoroughly and brush a thin layer of sesame oil on the skin. Cut the chicken to size when you are ready to serve. Enjoy it straight away, or consume within two days. For the dipping sauce: Grate the ginger finely, or chop it finely first and pound it with a pestle and mortar. Mix the ginger, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Heat the grapeseed oil until hot (around 210°C) and pour enough quantity to level the ginger mixture. Chilli oil can be added at this stage, if used. Taste to adjust the seasoning. |
Clean Tasting Chicken from ZheJiang Province
The following method of cooking is common in ZheJiang Province. Locally, organic young capons used to be the choice for this dish; a capon is a rooster that has been castrated in order to improve its meat quality.
For the purpose of even distribution of heat inside and outside the chicken while being poached, people often insert one or two spoons made of china or stainless steel into the cavity.
1.5 kg fresh chicken 2 spring onions, tied into a knot 10 g ginger, sliced For the dipping sauce: 20 g spring onion, finely chopped 10 g ginger, finely chopped 1 g sugar salt and pepper 40 ml (or less) cooking oil or hot cooking liquid | Clean and rinse the chicken thoroughly, especially inside the cavity. Over a medium heat, put water in a stockpot deep enough to immerse the chicken in it. Add to the stockpot the spring onions tied into a knot and the ginger. When the water boils, lift the chicken up by its ankles and dip the whole chicken into the boiling water; open the legs a bit so as to allow boiling water to go into the cavity. Count to 5 seconds and lift the chicken out of the water. Leave it in a bowl of icy water to cool down a little. Wait for the water in the stockpot to boil again, leave the chicken completely submerged in the water by placing a heavy plate on top of the chicken to weigh it down, and simmer very gently (with occasional tiny bubbles appearing on the surface of the water) for 20–25 minutes. Leave it in the cooking liquid to cool down completely. Check whether the chicken is done by inserting a chopstick into the thickest area of the breast and the thickest part of the thigh. When the juice runs clear, it is cooked. Otherwise, heat the cooking liquid until boiling and switch off the heat. Put the chicken back into the pot for another 10–20 minutes. When the chicken is cold, pat dry the skin and the cavity. Chop it to size to serve. You may wish to bone the chicken first for ease of eating. For the dipping sauce: Put finely chopped ginger in a piece of muslin and squeeze dry (or you can omit this step). Mix the ginger, finely chopped spring onion, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Heat the cooking oil until hot (around 210°C) and pour it over the ginger mixture. Stir well to serve. You can omit the oil, if you prefer. Instead, heat a sufficient quantity of the cooking liquid until boiling and leave it to cool down a little. Pour it over the ginger mixture and stir well. |
This dish has an undisputable lineage. It is the signatory dish from ShauXing, a small town in ZheJiang Province well-known for its production of ShauXing wine. Local chefs used the locally produced rice wine to soak the chicken after the bird is poached. It is served chilled.
For the garnish, a small handful of reconstituted goji berries (wolfberries) can be used. Soak dried goji in warm water until they are plump; pat them dry gently, and they are ready to be used. Goji seem to have an affinity with alcohol because it is often used with other Chinese herbs for preparing tonic spirits. For this dish, they add the bright red contrasting colour to the white meat dish
, and their gentle sweetness adds another layer of taste to the dish.
If ShauXing wine is not available, dry Amontillado, VSOP cognac, or single-malt whisky less than 18 years old are other options.
1 cooked chicken (following the recipes for Clean Tasting Chicken) 1 bottle (or more) ShauXing wine (preferably 3-year-old) 4 spring onion whites 10 g ginger, sliced 1 t SiChuan peppercorns, seeds removed (optional) | If you just want a cold plate of chicken with a light to moderate hint of alcohol, follow Method 1. If you are not going to drive after the meal and enjoy alcohol in your food, follow Method 2. If you do not mind getting a bit tipsy at the beginning of the meal, decrease the proportion of water and increase the quantity of wine for the soaking liquid. Method Method |
With a piece of cooked chicken breast and a bunch of spring onions, you can conjure up this delightful dish very quickly. The traditional method of preparing this dish is to arrange the shredded spring onion on top of the shredded chicken. Heat the oil until hot (around 210°C) and pour it over the spring onion. When the hot oil touches the spring onion with the sizzling sound, the spring onion is just cooked and smells aromatic.
Another method of preparing this dish is to stir-fry the shredded spring onions in hot oil briefly (5 seconds or so). Heat a wok over a high heat until hot. Add 75–120 ml of the grapeseed oil to the wok and heat it until hot (around 210°C). Sprinkle a small pinch of salt into the oil sufficient to season the spring onions. Add the shredded spring onions into the wok; use chopsticks to stir them quickly for 4 or 5 times. Arrange them on top of the chicken. It is then ready to serve. Mix the chicken with the spring onion at the table.
2 chicken breasts, cooked 8–10 spring onions salt and pepper 75–120 ml grapeseed oil chicken broth or poaching liquid (optional) | Poach the chicken by following the recipe for Clean Tasting Chicken. The breasts can be used for this dish, and the leg quarters for the next recipe Bang Bang chicken. Or you can prepare the chicken breasts on the bone by steaming them over a high heat for 15 minutes or so, depending upon the size and the thickness of the meat. Leave the skin on to keep the meat moister; it can be removed later. Check the doneness by inserting a chopstick into the thickest part of the breast. The meat is cooked when the juice runs clean. When they are cool enough to handle, shred the meat along the grain finely by hand. Pile them up on a plate. Shred the spring onions diagonally against the fibre; keep the length longer than the shredded chicken. Arrange them on top of the shredded chicken. Sprinkle some freshly ground white pepper on top of the spring onions. If the chicken broth or the poaching liquid is used, reduce it and season it lightly. Pour 30 ml of it onto the chicken before arranging the spring onions on top. For serving, heat a wok over a high heat until hot. Add the grapeseed oil to the wok and heat it until hot (around 210°C). Put a small pinch of salt into the oil for seasoning the spring onions. Pour the oil over the shredded spring onions. It is then ready to serve. Mix the chicken with the spring onion at the table. |