I have been delinquent. James has been cooking up a storm in the kitchen at Casa di Lee, and I have been lying about like a lazy slob instead of sharing his secrets with you. But it's the weekend, and the Niners are up, so here we go.
Today, we have the beginning to the chicken series. It starts with a heavenly pot of stock, and will continue with various chicken dishes from the culinary imagination of James.
But first, let's start with the base. Chicken stock.
This is your end goal - beautiful, golden liquid chock full of flavor. This is going to be the base of delicious soups and sauces and other amazing treats that you can think up of. I sometimes use diluted stock to cook up rice, studded with ginger and green onion, but that's another post for another day. First, let's figure out how to get here, so you can see why your own homemade stock is far superior to any Swanson's box o' broth you can buy at the grocery store.
Let's start from the beginning. Some recipes call for three chickens, some call for chicken wings, some call for special chickens. This recipe calls for one regular chicken (which is less expensive and easier to find). You can buy a chicken from your local grocery store when it's on sale. And it has the added benefit of allowing you to use the flesh from the chicken for future recipes, which you couldn't do with a whole bunch of chicken wings. Along with our star, the chicken, we also need ginger, an onion, green onions, salt, and palm sugar (although you can substitute rock sugar or brown sugar, just use whatever is on hand).
The first thing you want to do is to add some deep flavor to the aromatics. Preheat your oven to 375F, plop your onion and ginger on a sheet pan, and let it roast in the oven for about an hour. Concentrate the flavors, it will lead to deeper flavor in the broth later. If you are in a rush, and you can't wait, go ahead and just give your onion/ginger a quick turn in an open flame to get some caramelization on those root vegetables.
Then stick your hand into the bird and pull out the nasty bits. The innards and the neck. The neck can go right into the broth. The innards, you can toss or you can save for another recipe. We won't be needing them here.
Next, take out your buddy, the chef's knife (or in James' case, the meat cleaver), and break up the chicken. If you're like me, you're not loving the thought of breaking down a bird. But we're not asking for a full deboning here, friends. Just separate the legs and the wings from the bird, and give a couple of slices along the backbone of the breast.
You know how there's that little fat deposit at the butt of the bird? Do yourself a favor and try to remove some of that as well. It will save you from much degreasing of your stock later.
Next, time to fill the pot. There's a lot of liquid here, so use a stock pot if you have one. Add some ginger slices, some scallion whites, and the salt and fill with water.
Bring the water to a rolling boil. Then lower the boom, aka the chicken, into the water once the water is boiling. You will be using the chicken torso, and the chicken legs. It's optional to use the wings and drumettes, or you can save them for another chicken recipe coming down the pike. Cover and bring back to a boil. Once the water is boiling again, turn off the heat and leave the chicken in the covered pot for 30 minutes. The residual heat will cook the chicken in a more gentle way, leading to moister meat.
Traditionally, when making soups in Chinese cooking, the first boil is used to pull out the impurities and lead to a cleaner and clearer stock later. In this case, it has the added benefit of cooking the chicken meat through (but not overcooking it) so that you can remove the meat for another use.
After 30 minutes, go ahead and drain the water for the pot. Replace with ice and cold, which will stop the cooking and make the flesh easier to handle.
After 20 minutes in the ice bath, remove the chicken and shred the meat from the bones. Reserve for another use. We have some recipes coming up that will inspire you on how to use the tasty poached chicken.
Now, time for the long simmer. Once you've stripped the meat the best you can, you are saving the carcass and the remains and adding them back to the pot. To that pot of goodness, you are adding those roasted aromatics (the onion and ginger), the left over scallions, the sugar, and 7 quarts of water.
Bring the stock to a boil, and then lower the flame to low to allow the stock to simmer simmer simmer. For 2 hours. While you yell at the television, and groan at the missed plays, your house will be filling with the savory smell of chicken-y goodness. And there will be golden, flavorful, delicious stock as your reward.
Strain out the solids, and separate the broth into containers. Either freeze up to 3 months, or store for up to 3 days. And the next time you make a recipe that calls for stock, reach for your homemade goodness instead of that box of stuff. You will thank us for it.
Also, since it's flu season, I will say that one of the Persampieris' favorite sick foods is brothy soup. We especially like egg drop soup which would be amazing with this stock. And it is simple to make when you are feeling sad sack and shut in, especially you can make it with ingredients you have in your kitchen (stock, eggs, cornstarch, salt, soy, ginger, green onions).
CHICKEN STOCK; yields 5qts
1 whole young chicken
2 onions, sliced in half, skin on
1 2 inch knob of ginger, skin on, sliced roughly & divided into 2 piles
1 bunch of scallions aka green onions, root tip discarded and cut into 3 inch lengths
1oz palm sugar, brown sugar, or rock sugar (if you don't have a kitchen scale, use 2 tbsps instead)
2 Tbsps kosher salt
Preheat oven to 375F
Roast the onions & ginger in the oven and roast for one hour, until the aromatics are tender/soft and caramelized. If you are too lazy, or short on time, slightly char the aromatics over an open flame instead for flavor/color.
- Chicken -
Remove all innards and excess fat near tail. You can reserve the innards/fat for another dish, or you can discard. Break down the chicken by taking apart the thighs and wings. Make 2 slices along the backbone down the breast to allow for better cooking and easier removal later. Set aside the wings and drumettes, if desired, for another dish.
- First Boil -
Fill pot with water until the chicken is submerged. Add one pile of the ginger, salt, and a few scallion whites. Bring water to a rolling boil. Add chicken, cover and bring back to boil. When water comes back to a boil, turn OFF the fire and cover pot for 30mins.
- Ice Bath -
After 30 minutes, drain the pot and discard the water. Add ice and cold water to the pot and let the chicken chill. After 15-20mins the chicken should be easier to handle. Hand shred the meat from the bird and set aside. Keep all bones and carcass remains.
- Second Boil -
Rinse & fill the empty pot with 7quarts of water, add carcass/bones from chicken along with oven roasted onion, sugar, the remaining ginger, and the remaining scallions. Bring stock to a boil and lower flame to simmer. After 2hrs the stock should be golden brown. Strain solids and portion out stock into containers to cool. The stock can be kept in fridge for up to 3 days or you can freeze the stock for up to 3 months.
