Sunday, June 05, 2005
Testing testing one two three: Crispy Chinese Chicken
I was doing my usual rounds at the supermarket thinking of what to cook for friends coming over when I saw poussins and had a sudden craving for zha ji gai (cantonese) or zha4 zi3 ji1 (mandarin). Had ABSOLUTELY NO idea of how to make it but thought it couldn't be that difficult and figured poussins would make nice tender small zha ji gai.
After looking on the internet for recipes, I realised there's a reason why people usually go to the restaurant to eat this rather than make it at home. It's not impossible just a bit troublesome so it's probably only worthwhile making about 5 chickens at once for a big group of people and the thing is if you can buy this takeaway from your local Chinese restaurant, that's really much easier and probably will be yummier. Kinda like the other roast meats like roast duck, goose, or roast pork (siu yok) which is somehow just more delicious from the restaurant (I suspect this is to do with alot of experience, economies of scale and a proper roasting/bicycle pumping (see below) process).
Anyway, having already bought my poussins I thought I'd try it anyway. Was going to buy the hooks to hang them up like they do in restaurant windows but forgot so ended up air drying it in front of a fan.
The chickens need to be coated with tong cou (tang2 cu4) then air dried - and the process has to be repeated several times.
The poussins turned out flavoursome and tender but the skin wasn't crispy enough except for in certain sections (and for those who have not had zha ji gai before the whole point is paper thin crispy skin). I think it's like peking duck - you might actually have to blow the bird up with a bicycle pump to get the skin ultra crispy.
In any case, considering I'm moving to HK, so I'll have no trouble getting good zha ji gai , don't think I'll actually try the bicycle pump thing, but the flavours are pretty good so maybe I'll make it again when I'm really free and fight with my friends again over the really crispy bits.
Here's the recipe (my translation skills are quite basic).
Ingredients:
1 whole young chicken approx. 750 g
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp shaoxing wine (or Chinese rice wine/Japanese sake)
Seasoning 1:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger juice
Seasoning 2:
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder
Poaching ingredients:
1tsp peppercorns
1 star anise
1/4 dried orange peel
1 piece cinamon bark
1 slice ginger
1 piece tsao-ko
Sugar-vinegar (tong co) marinade mixture:
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp chekiang (dark brown Chinese) vinegar
1 tbsp potato flour
1 tbsp water chestnut powder
1 tbsp rice wine
Method:
1. Wash chicken thoroughly and rub Seasoning 1 thoroughly in chicken cavity.
2. Put poaching ingredients in a muslin bag and into a pot with 10 cups of water, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt, shaoxing wine and the chicken, and simmer until the skin has detached from the meat slightly. Remove chicken from pot and let cool.
3. Mix marinade ingredients and heat slightly till melted. Coat chicken with marinade.
4. Rub Seasoning 2 thorougly in chicken cavity.
5. Hang chicken up in an airy place. Once the chicken is quite dry, put another coat and let dry again. Repeat 3 times and let the chicken dry completely finally.
6. Heat up a wok of oil and deep fry the chicken till golden. Serve whole or chopped up.
For those who want to try this without cooking, New Mayflower on Shaftesbury Ave in Chinatown does a pretty decent version. ¶ 12:29 PM
I was doing my usual rounds at the supermarket thinking of what to cook for friends coming over when I saw poussins and had a sudden craving for zha ji gai (cantonese) or zha4 zi3 ji1 (mandarin). Had ABSOLUTELY NO idea of how to make it but thought it couldn't be that difficult and figured poussins would make nice tender small zha ji gai.
After looking on the internet for recipes, I realised there's a reason why people usually go to the restaurant to eat this rather than make it at home. It's not impossible just a bit troublesome so it's probably only worthwhile making about 5 chickens at once for a big group of people and the thing is if you can buy this takeaway from your local Chinese restaurant, that's really much easier and probably will be yummier. Kinda like the other roast meats like roast duck, goose, or roast pork (siu yok) which is somehow just more delicious from the restaurant (I suspect this is to do with alot of experience, economies of scale and a proper roasting/bicycle pumping (see below) process).
Anyway, having already bought my poussins I thought I'd try it anyway. Was going to buy the hooks to hang them up like they do in restaurant windows but forgot so ended up air drying it in front of a fan.
The chickens need to be coated with tong cou (tang2 cu4) then air dried - and the process has to be repeated several times.
The poussins turned out flavoursome and tender but the skin wasn't crispy enough except for in certain sections (and for those who have not had zha ji gai before the whole point is paper thin crispy skin). I think it's like peking duck - you might actually have to blow the bird up with a bicycle pump to get the skin ultra crispy.
In any case, considering I'm moving to HK, so I'll have no trouble getting good zha ji gai , don't think I'll actually try the bicycle pump thing, but the flavours are pretty good so maybe I'll make it again when I'm really free and fight with my friends again over the really crispy bits.
Here's the recipe (my translation skills are quite basic).
Ingredients:
1 whole young chicken approx. 750 g
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp shaoxing wine (or Chinese rice wine/Japanese sake)
Seasoning 1:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger juice
Seasoning 2:
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder
Poaching ingredients:
1tsp peppercorns
1 star anise
1/4 dried orange peel
1 piece cinamon bark
1 slice ginger
1 piece tsao-ko
Sugar-vinegar (tong co) marinade mixture:
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp chekiang (dark brown Chinese) vinegar
1 tbsp potato flour
1 tbsp water chestnut powder
1 tbsp rice wine
Method:
1. Wash chicken thoroughly and rub Seasoning 1 thoroughly in chicken cavity.
2. Put poaching ingredients in a muslin bag and into a pot with 10 cups of water, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt, shaoxing wine and the chicken, and simmer until the skin has detached from the meat slightly. Remove chicken from pot and let cool.
3. Mix marinade ingredients and heat slightly till melted. Coat chicken with marinade.
4. Rub Seasoning 2 thorougly in chicken cavity.
5. Hang chicken up in an airy place. Once the chicken is quite dry, put another coat and let dry again. Repeat 3 times and let the chicken dry completely finally.
6. Heat up a wok of oil and deep fry the chicken till golden. Serve whole or chopped up.
For those who want to try this without cooking, New Mayflower on Shaftesbury Ave in Chinatown does a pretty decent version. ¶ 12:29 PM
