Poached Soy Chicken

A great, foolproof chinese way of roasting a whole chicken. Because you first poach it in mastersauce before you roast it in the oven, your chicken will never turn out dry or undercooked. On the contrary, it will be moist and succulent and delicious for sure.
There are a lot of ingredients that go into the sauce, but the great thing is, you can freeze it and use it over and over again. Every time adding some new fresh ingredients like the ginger, garlic or whatever you have available. The sauce will improve  every time you use it. There is a restaurant in Shanghai, famous for its soy chicken or duck and the mastersauce they use is said to be over a 100 years old! (I couldn’t find the source for this story though, if you can, please let me know)

RECIPE

Make a mastersauce by simmering the following ingredients for about 15 minutes in a pan that is just big enough to fit your chicken:

250 ml light soysauce (or japanese soysauce)
250 ml shaoxing ricewine
400 ml water
150 gr chinese brown sugar (or just plain sugar)
1 big piece of ginger, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 staranise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 stripe of orangepeel, white stuff removed
1½  t sichuan peppercorns (or nothing, don’t substitute)
½ t chinese five-spice powder
½ t sesame oil

Wash your chicken, put it in the pan with the mastersauce, breastside down (see photo).  Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then turn the chicken, breastside up and simmer for another 10 minutes. Let the chicken cool down in the sauce. I don’t know for how long and if it’s really necessary, I’m just passing the message from the original recipe. I normally let it cool down for just half an hour or so, until I’m ready to prepare dinner.  

Let the chicken drip/drain on a rack.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Rub the chicken with the olive oil .
Put chicken on a baking tray or rack.
Put in the oven for about  20-25 minutes.
Serve with white rice & bok choy salad, ovenroasted potatoes & corn on the cob or cold for a picknick.

Sieve the sauce, let it cool down (preferably quickly), remove the fat from the surface and then freeze it in a container or freezerbag. You can use it over and over again.

Tags: Chicken, Roasted Chicken, Soy Chicken