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A good Chinese restaurant will often have chicken that's amazingly soft and moist. How'd they do that?
It can't be a rocket hot wok; large chunks would still be raw in the middle. Or, if cooked all the way through like that, the chook would be tough enough to hurt someone with. I've always suspected I knew how it was done, but never bothered to try the technique due to time.
The Chinese method of poaching a whole chicken is interesting. It's different from most European classical aproaches, that usually stick to stewing, or maybe braising whole birds. It's also really, really simple and requires zero baby sitting.
You need one whole chicken. A pot large enough to completely immerse the chicken, bigger is better. And some basic flavouring, no chopping required. Cloves, cinnimon, star anise, whole pepper corns, and ginger are common.
Fill the pot with water, leaving enough room for bird and flavorings, and bring to a boil. Once you have a rolling boil, put chicken in pot for a minute or two and then remove. The skin should thicken and tighten. Put in the flavorings and let the pot come back up to a boil. Put the chicken back in and let come up to a boil again. Now, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and walk away. For at least an hour.
The water will still be finger cooking hot after an hour. You should be able to leave the chicken in the pot as long as you like; I've heard of recipes that call for over two hours.
The result is moist, perfectly cooked, chicken. The skin is nothing to write home about, but it does make some cold soy chicken I've had make a lot more sense.
I used an onion, pepper corns, cinnimon bark, and a dash of salt. It was quite yummy and fully cooked. It took nearly forty minutes to get the water in the pot rolling. However, there was considerably less kitchen heating that using an oven; a big bonus for summer.
It can't be a rocket hot wok; large chunks would still be raw in the middle. Or, if cooked all the way through like that, the chook would be tough enough to hurt someone with. I've always suspected I knew how it was done, but never bothered to try the technique due to time.
The Chinese method of poaching a whole chicken is interesting. It's different from most European classical aproaches, that usually stick to stewing, or maybe braising whole birds. It's also really, really simple and requires zero baby sitting.
You need one whole chicken. A pot large enough to completely immerse the chicken, bigger is better. And some basic flavouring, no chopping required. Cloves, cinnimon, star anise, whole pepper corns, and ginger are common.
Fill the pot with water, leaving enough room for bird and flavorings, and bring to a boil. Once you have a rolling boil, put chicken in pot for a minute or two and then remove. The skin should thicken and tighten. Put in the flavorings and let the pot come back up to a boil. Put the chicken back in and let come up to a boil again. Now, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and walk away. For at least an hour.
The water will still be finger cooking hot after an hour. You should be able to leave the chicken in the pot as long as you like; I've heard of recipes that call for over two hours.
The result is moist, perfectly cooked, chicken. The skin is nothing to write home about, but it does make some cold soy chicken I've had make a lot more sense.
I used an onion, pepper corns, cinnimon bark, and a dash of salt. It was quite yummy and fully cooked. It took nearly forty minutes to get the water in the pot rolling. However, there was considerably less kitchen heating that using an oven; a big bonus for summer.