Drunken Chicken Recipe

DRUNKEN CHICKEN

Drunken Chicken RecipeDrunken chicken – Chinese Dish and Chinese heritage – is a specialty from Shanghai, a region in China. Traditionally, Drunken Chicken is made with a whole chicken, steeped in Shaoxing, a Chinese special rice wine. Poaching, a more traditional way to cook the Drunken Chicken and Steaming are two techniques you can use to cook Drunken Chicken.

Shaoxing wine which provides the main flavor for the delicate taste of Shanghai Drunken Chicken is the important key for cooking this special dish.

As mentioned earlier, there are 2 techniques to make Drunken Chicken. The first is by poaching the chicken slowly in a big pot of barely simmering water and by doing this you’ll get a bonus because the big pot of water changes into the most palatable chicken stocks that is very good for soups.

The second is by steaming the chicken and when you do this, you’ll get a cup of gelatin packed chicken stock concentrate. If you mix this cup of gelatin packed chicken stock concentrate with Shaoxing rice wine, it becomes solid into delicate aspic. The aspic is the nicest and the most delicious part of Drunken Chicken.

No matter what cooking method that you choose, the best way to have the Drunken Chicken is to serve it cold. With a bowl of noodles in hot chicken stock or soft white rice, the Drunken Chicken can be served. Or if you want to, the Drunken Chicken can be served alone as appetizer.

Traditionally, The Chinese use Chinese cleaver to cut off the Drunken Chicken into bite-size pieces. Do you know why? Because you know Chinese like using chopsticks, so with chopsticks they can easily pick up the bite size pieces of chicken and another reason is the Chinese use the cleaver to cut through skin, meat and bone and there is a special trick to do this.

Not wanting to butcher the Chicken? Don’t worry, just cook drumsticks and with their smaller size, the drumsticks score larger pieces of meat down to the bone before marinating and giving a chance for the Shaoxing wine to penetrate.

HOW MANY CALORIES PER SERVING ?

The Drunken Chicken has only 487 calories per serving.

Drunken Chicken Recipe

COURSE : APPETIZER OR MAIN COURSE

CUISINE : ASIAN ( CHINESE )

KEYWORD : DRUNKEN CHICKEN

SERVINGS : 4 PEOPLE

CALORIES : 487 CALORIES

INGREDIENTS :

  1. 3 lbs of dark meat chicken
  2. 2 tablespoons of salt
  3. 1 ½ cup of Shaoxing rice wine
  4. 2 teaspoons of white sugar
  5. ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
  6. ¼ teaspoon of ground white pepper
  7. 5 oz of thinly sliced ginger
  8. 4-6 sliced lengthwise, white parts only of green onion
  9. Ice cubes and water

INSTRUCTIONS :

  • Prepare the salt and two peppers and then, the salt with two peppers are mixed. With the salt and pepper, the chicken is rubbed all over and for an hour, let it sit.

Method for Steaming

  1. Prepare a steamer, and in the steamer the water is brought to a boil. The chicken is placed in an even layer, then the green onion and ginger are scattered all over and the chicken is steamed for about 30 -40 minutes over medium heat or 165-170 degrees F is reached by the internal temperature near the bone. The chicken pieces take longer to steam if they are bigger. Make sure that the chicken pieces are well redistributed in the middle of cooking if any of the chicken pieces are touching to one another, so they are cooked evenly.
  2. The ice cubes and water are mixed and the chicken is shocked for 2 minutes in ice cold water. If the chicken is poached, the chicken is shocked after the chicken has cooled to room temperature. If the chicken is steamed, the chicken is shocked as soon as possible after steaming.
  3. The chicken is chopped into bite sized pieces or the chicken meat is scored with a knife after cooking. Prepare a big container and the chicken pieces are put into a big container. The sugar and Shaoxing rice wine are mixed with ¾ cup or 1 cup of the chicken stock ( the liquid that comes out of the poached chicken or the liquid that comes out of the chicken after steaming). The marinade is tasted and salt is added if needed. It is poured over the chicken pieces and let his sit in the fridge at least overnight before you are ready to serve it, and remember the best is to serve The Drunken Chicken cold.

Method for Poaching

  1. Prepare a large pot or a Dutch oven and then, 6 cups of water is brought to a boil in the large pot. The green onion bottoms and ginger are put into the large pot. The chicken is also put into the large pot. Just make sure that you have enough water to cover the chicken and return to a boil. The heat is lowered to a bare simmer and for 10 minutes, simmering.
  2. If a whole chicken is used, when he water is simmering for 10 minutes, the chicken is lifted out of the water and you make sure the stock in the cavity empties back into the pot. For a whole chicken, do that 3 times. For chicken pieces or leg quarters, the pot is stirred slowly and gently once or the legs quarters are redistributed, so they are cooked evenly.  After 10 minutes, the chicken is covered and the heat is turned off. Finally, the chicken is allowed to poach undisturbed until the water cools to room temperature.

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