HOME STYLE SOY SAUCE CHICKEN: 家庭豉油雞

It's very comforting! And tasty, too! Plus soy sauce chicken is so easy to make that one has to wonder why one does not make it more often. With some bokchoi on the side, and rice, it's a delicious meal.

The recipe below is a Cantonese version; people in the north also do something they call soy sauce chicken, but it is oddly unappealing.


豉油雞 
SI YAU KAI

One whole chicken, about four pounds.
Two cups soy sauce.
Half a cup sherry or rice wine.
Six TBS cane sugar.
Six slices of ginger.
Three garlic cloves, whole.
Three scallion, sectioned.
Three star anise pods.
One piece of dried tangerine peel (陳皮 'chan pei').
One dried honey date (金絲蜜棗乾 'gam si mat jou gon').
Half a stick cinnamon or less.
Eight cups water.

Rinse your chicken well, and trim flaps.

Gild the ginger, garlic, and scallion with a little oil in the bottom of a large stockpot, adding the ginger first, then the garlic cloves and scallion sections. Seethe with the sherry, then add everything except the chicken and bring to a boil. Simmer a few minutes, then submerge the chicken, rump upwards. Bring back to a boil, turn low, and poach for a scant twenty minutes. Turn off heat, cover, and let stand for an hour or so.
Remove chicken and drain.

Bring pot back to a boil and reduce liquid over fifty percent.
Strain and cool.

Chop the chicken into large pieces. Arrange on a platter and spoon some of the liquid over.

Reserve the rest of the liquid for other uses.


Some folks swear by rose-flavour wine (玫瑰酒 'mui kwei jau') as the liquor, claiming that it adds an ethereal je ne sais quoi. But unless you have any other reason to use it, such as curing little pork sausages (臘腸 'laap cheung'), it's rather a waste. Sherry is my preferred cooking hooch.
I add tangerine peel and honey date for their perfume instead.

The point of the dish is NOT strongly overflavoured chicken, but a bird which still has natural sweetness and is softly savoury-fragrant.
Gentleness is the trick.
Note that chicken wings and chicken drumsticks can be done similarly; an entire bucket for a party, for instance. I never have sports fans over, and consequently seldom do that.





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SCREAMING SOBBING INCONSOLABLE TEARS

A friend mentions that eating orange chicken at Panda Express caused a nearby infant to wail. The little tyke was utterly terrified. Howled fit to lift the roof. Which is a strange reaction to someone else enjoying a succulent Chinese meal, but as I have never been to Panda Express and seldom eat suburban gloop, I'll just assume that that is normal.

Neither Panda Express nor its soulmate P. F. Chang's are anywhere near Chinatown. Not geographically, not philosophically. Yet typical American Chinese food is probably the greatest Californian contribution to the national palate of all time. Who doesn't like infinite variations on sweet and sour sauce over crispy chewy mouthfuls? It's universal.


"Then, without breaking her gaze, her face screws up into a little mask of terror and she bursts into screaming, sobbing, inconsolable tears."


Good-o.

American Chinese food is the kind of hearty fare that kept generations of goldminers alive, and sustains everyone in the fly-overs who gets sick and tired of chain restaurant burgers. Or just sick.

It goes without saying that orange chicken bears almost no resemblance to its nearest Chinese relative, 陳皮雞 ('chan pei kai'), which is usually made with chicken wings gilded in a little oil, then sauced with good Chekiang vinegar, sugar, water, and rehumidified dried orange peel.
The principle behind the original is layered flavours intensified for a fragrant - tangy - savoury effect, rather than boneless protein drenched in a sauce that goes well with rice for white people.

White people like sauce. Grits and gravy, rosbif au jus, patat frites with mayonnaise, herring in sour cream, zesty remoulade, dips, stews, thick soups, and that strange big bucket muck that goes on hamburgers.
It's instinctive; they're storing up fat for the zombie apocalypse.

White folks know all about zombies.

I also make orange chicken.
The all-American version.
Yum babies, over rice.


ORANGE CHICKEN

One Lbs boneless skinless chicken cut into strips.
Two egg whites.
Two Tbs. corn starch.
Two Tbs. sherry.
Half cup orange juice.
Quarter cup chicken stock.
One Tbs. soy sauce.
One Tbs. vinegar.
One Tbs. sugar.
Squirt of Sriracha.
One Tsp orange zest.
One Tsp. dried chili flakes.
Garlic and ginger, minced.
One scallion, minced.


Whip the egg white, cornstarch, and sherry till frothy. Dump the chicken bits into this and make sure every piece is well covered. Stick it in the refrigerator for twenty minutes. Then take it out, re-stir briefly, drain the liquid. Dredge the chicken bits well in cornstarch, shake off the excess, and fry in the wok with plenty oil till golden. Remove and drain.

Pour most of the oil out of the wok. Heat the wok and add the minced garlic, ginger, and dried chili flakes. Pour in all the liquids to seethe, add the sugar and zest and a squirt of Sriracha, reduce till near-syrupy. Dump in the chicken, toss to coat, and turn out onto a plate.
Garnish with the minced scallion.
Serve with rice.

If you need more sauce, add a squirt of Sriracha to your food.


Sriracha is one of the very best sambals ever invented.
It also is a California thing: created in 1980 by a Chinese refugee from Vietnam, named after a city with which it has no relation or connection whatsoever, sold up and down the West Coast and now increasingly available for your pleasure in lunch counters, hamburger joints, taco restaurants, soup kitchens, oyster bars, and fine grill rooms galore.
Equally great on pizza, fish, eggs, or beefsteak.



Dare I suggest that the only additional thing that could improve orange chicken would be two or three crispy rashers of bacon?

And, maybe, more hot sauce.




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SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE GOBBLING THING

This year you might want an alternative to roast turkey for your feast. Either because you've finally realized that turkeys are sensitive animals with souls, and mommies who love them, or because you are sick and tired of meat that doesn't have the wit to be either gamy or flavourful.

Try chicken or duck instead.


桶子油雞
BUCKET CHICKEN

老公雞: 1隻 (one old cock, around three pounds).
薑: 2或3片 (two or three thick slices of ginger).
葱: 2或3條 (two or three scallion).
八角: 5或6粒 (five or six whole star anise).
陳皮: 半個 (half a dried tangerine peel).
糖: 5両 (about one cup cane sugar, slightly less).
豉油: 3盃 (three cups soy sauce).
黄酒: 1盃 (one cup sherry or rice wine).
水: 3盃 (three cups water).

Blanch chicken, rinse and drain.
Put a bamboo rack in the bottom of a soup pot (to keep the bird from sticking), add all flavourings and liquids, and bring to a boil. Put the chicken in the pot, simmer roughly half an hour, turning as appropriate and pouring the hot broth into the cavity. Remove the bird from the pot and brush with oil to make it shiny.
Let it cool a bit.

Chop into large pieces and arrange on a platter.
Splash some of the cooking liquid over to serve.

The term bucket chicken originated with street vendors..



建力士燒鴨
GUINNESS BRAISED DUCK

鴨子: 1隻，重约3或4斤 (one duck, roughly 4½ to 5 Lbs).
葱: 8條 (eight scallion).
薑: 數片 (a few slices of ginger).
糖: 2湯匙 (two TBS sugar).
鹽: 1茶匙 (one Tsp. salt).
水: 適量 (a suitable amount of water).
生粉: ½湯匙，同水1湯匙 (half a TBS cornstarch, mixed with a little water).
建力士啤酒 (司陶特啤酒): 1樽 [2盃] (one bottle Guinness Stout = 2 cups).

Wash and trim the duck. Cook in boiling water for five minutes. Remove and drain. Chop it into large pieces.
Sautée scallion and ginger, add duck pieces and a splash of stout.
Stir to coat and fragrantize.
Decant to a stew pot, add everything except the sugar and cornstarch.
Simmer for an hour or so.
Stir in sugar and cornstarch, and once it thickens, serve.

You could also use Chimay Red or Grande Réserve, instead of the Guinness, and omit the sugar. You might then call it 希邁燒鴨。



Note: this started off several years ago as 客家式紅糟鴨。 But I'm too lazy to look for 紅糟, which except for the quarter cup needed in the original recipe would likely never be used again.
I remember the jar of 紅南乳, which sat in the fridge for over a year.

Guinness, on the other hand .......



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SUDDEN CHINESE DINNER

The past few days I have been thinking about food. In hot juicy detail. It's far better than sex, and can be shared with more people. The same, obviously, goes for talking about the subject. Though if you wish to take this blogpost as a lascivious leer or soft romantic smile from a stranger, go right ahead.
I shall not stop you. Please also imagine me as talk dark and handsome while you're at it.

[Full literary disclosure: in complete contrast to the imagined hot and hunky stranger above, the actual blogger here is five foot eight and a half, of a rather Caucasian hue in general, with a trim beard and moustache which are distressingly more salt than pepper. Streaks of silver in the hair at the temples. Middle-aged -- handsomely mature by his own dodderingly misguided reckoning, but probably a super-annuated old fossil in the eyes of anyone under thirty -- and much more like a scholarly gnome or distant relative of Gandalf than the studly vampire lover of your fantasies.]

Now, while you are looking all blurfle-eyed and blushing, day-dreaming of the eternally youthful hero of Twilight or the vibrant and sweating habitués of The Raven in Toronto, amid scenes of pounding music, I shall describe some dishes I haven't made in quite a long while, as I seldom cook anymore.
But they would go well together at a small dinner.


薑蔥炆雞丁GEUNG-CHUNG MAN KAI DING
Ginger-scallion simmered chicken chunks

One pound chicken on the bone, whacked into chopstickable pieces.
Three scallions, sectioned.
Sliced ginger.
4 TBS sherry.
2 TBS soy sauce.
1 TBS sugar.

Wash and dry chicken, dust with a teaspoon of cornflour, add a dash of oil and toss to coat. Stirfry in scant oil to firm up. Decant temporarily to a plate.
Sauté ginger and scallion till fragrant, add chicken to the pan along with the sherry, soy sauce, sugar, and a splash of water. Simmer on low for ten to fifteen minutes.
Put in a shallow bowl to serve.


炸汁蝦 JAA JAP HAA
Fried sauced shrimp

One pound of medium prawns.
Three scallions, chopped.
A little minced ginger.
Two TBS sherry.
One Tsp. sugar.
A little hot chili paste.
Pinches of salt and ground white pepper.
Drops of sesame oil.

Batter:
One egg white.
One TBS cornflour.

Rip off the legs of the prawns, de-shell, and remove the vein. Rinse, dry. Whisk the egg white and cornflour smooth, dip the prawns, and deep fry in hot oil till golden. Note that if you have a wok, this will require less oil and be easier to do. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Sauté ginger and scallion till fragrant. Add the sherry, sugar, chili paste, pinches and drops, plus a little water. Cook till it starts to become glazy, add the prawns, and toss to coat.
Decant onto a plate.


鹹魚炆豬肉 HAAHM YÜ MAN CHÜ YIUK
Salt fish and fatty pork in clay pot

One pound of streaky belly pork (naam yiuk 腩肉).
Less than a fifth that amount salt fish, judged by eye.
Four or five whole shallots, peeled.
Four or five cloves garlic, left whole.
Some sliced ginger.
Quarter cup sherry.
One TBS fish sauce (yü lou 魚露).
One TBS sugar.

Blanch the pork whole fully till firmed up, drain and rinse under cold water. Dry it, and cut it into chunks. Soak and drain the salt fish, dice it small. And note that it is supposed to be a contributing flavour, not a dominant ingredient. Fry the pork with the ginger and whole garlic cloves till slightly golden, and decant to a clay pot.
Fry the dried fish similarly and add to the clay pot. Put the shallots in also, add the sherry, fish sauce, and sugar, and half a cup of water. Put the clay pot on low heat, and simmer gently for one and a half hours.
Before taking it off the flame, stir in a handfull of spinach leaves to wilt.



NOTE: Regarding the salt fish, it is best to use specimens which are solid, firm, and entirely unfermented (sat yiuk haahm yü 實肉鹹魚).
But these may be very hard to find in C'town.
By far the most common types of dried fish (described as "moldy perfume salt fish" - mui heung haahm yü 霉香鹹魚) are fully fermented products, delicious and perfect for eating during warm weather, which have been implicated in a higher incidence of naso-pharyngeal cancers in Southern China.
Cantonese people love that scrumptious salty-fishy taste, and consume more of it than anyone else (you knew there was a reason why you liked their food).

If you don't have any dried fish in your larder, you can modify the recipe above by using shrimp paste (haahm haa jeung 鹹蝦醬) instead.




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AND COMPANY

Sometimes all you want to do is spend a few hours reading, in the same room as someone else doing exactly the same thing. Each person content in the presence of the other.
And then both of you decide to go out and get some soup.
There are a few places I’ve mentioned already that have good soup.  Fun soup.
Two Vietnamese-Chinese places in C’town.
If it’s a nice day, why not?

On the other hand maybe you just want to stay indoors, relaxing in companionable privacy, not observing or being observed by the world.
Perfect time for jook.
Rice porridge.


鮑魚粥 BAU YU JUK
Chicken and Abalone Rice Porridge.

One cup of rice.
One carrot, cut into three or four pieces.
One can of abalone.
Six chicken drumsticks.
Six dried scallops (conpoy).
Eight to ten cups water.
Pinches of ground white pepper.

Plus chopped cilantro, shredded ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Set the dried scallops to soak in a little water with a pinch of sugar added.
After rinsing the rice cook it in half the water, simmer the chicken pieces and carrot in another pot in the remaining water.  Once the rice is fully cooked, remove from heat. Same with the chicken.  Drain the chicken liquid into the rice and while this cools, pull the chicken flesh from the bones and set aside.
Dump the carrot chunks into the pot with the rice.

Traditionally the rice would be simmered for several hours with frequent stirring (to prevent scorching) till the grains start falling apart. But it saves a lot of time to simply put the rice and cooking liquids into the blender - which is why you should let it all cool down a bit first.
When the rice has been osterized, return it to the soup pot, and bring it back to boil.

Carefully pull the re-moistened scallops apart, and add them and their soaking liquid to the pot.
Mix a little soy sauce and sesame oil with the chicken. Do not add too much, just enough to aromatize.
Slice the abalone, and add some of the abalone liquid into the rice porridge if you wish.
Add the sliced abalone only a minute or two before serving, while the soup pot is still on the burner. Abalone toughens up if cooked too long, so remove the pot from the heat shortly thereafter. Adjust taste with white pepper.
Divvy up into bowls, add the chicken meat, shredded ginger, and cilantro on top.

[Dried scallops (gon bui 乾貝, gon yiu ju 乾瑤柱) are available in Chinatown. They look like amber-hued or honey-coloured disks.  Conpoy is not optional, as the dish will lack a certain distinction if it is left out.  You should buy high quality large conpoy which have a vibrant look and smell, and clean sharp edges. Abalone (bau yu 鮑魚) is seldom used fresh in Chinese cuisine, mostly dried or canned.  It likewise can be bought in C'town.  Abalone is considered healthy and easy to digest. Which it is, if not rubberized by prolonged cooking.]

The quantity above is enough for four servings, or two large bowls. It is fun to share this before returning to your books and again enjoying each other's quiet reassuring company.
Jook is superlative comfort food.
Always do enough for two.

It's been in a while since I made any.

Mostly I read by myself now.



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CHINESE RECIPES - EIGHT EASY DISHES

A post I wrote a while back about unusual ingredients used in Chinese cooking prompted fretfulness from some of my readers.

One person asked "what if I don't WANT to spend an arm and a leg feeding my family?!?"

Another asked whether there was something less likely to prompt his kids in demanding Jaws I, II, and II as movie rentals, and a third asked if Chinese people also ate normal food.

Those are interesting questions.


"What if I don't WANT to spend an arm and a leg feeding my family?!?"

If you don't feel like spending inordinate amounts of money feeding your family there is NO reason why you should, really. Especially if they are children. Children don't have any taste - that is why despite the crappy toy that they are forced to accept, they still love happy meals. Children are nasty little barbarians who just don't appreciate any effort at all; you might as well neglect the little buggers until they're college age, when you can safely get rid of them. They'll eat pizza and burgers once they're finally out of your sight anyhow. Screw them.

And I understand that you don't want to see any of the Jaws movies ever again. They were very silly, the music was bad, and the happy endings stank.
Rent a Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) gangster movie instead.
I suggest 'A Better Tomorrow' (英雄本色 'Ying Hong Pun Sek').

Chinese people eat normal food. Yes. Where are you from?



CHINESE RECIPES

But, for those readers who really do want to cook something Chinese without losing their mind, here are some recipes.


酸辣湯 SUUN LAAT TONG
Hot and sour soup

Two cups chicken stock.
Two cups water.
¼ - ½ cup meat - chopped chicken or pork.
¼ - ½ cup bamboo shoots; rinsed and drained, shredded.
¼ - ½ cup tofu, small chunk cut.
¼ - ½ cup cucumber; peeled, seeded, chopped.
3 - 4 black mushrooms; soaked, drained, stemmed, sliced thin.
2 TBS wood ear (木耳 'muk yi'), soaked and drained.
Quarter cup sherry.
1 TBS soy sauce.
1 TBS vinegar.
1 TBS equal mixture cornstarch and water.
1 Tsp. hot toban sauce (辣豆瓣酱 'laat touban jeung').
¼ - 1 Tsp. ground white pepper.
Pinches five spice powder, sugar.
Two or three drops Tabasco.
A little slivered ginger.
One egg, beaten.
Finely chopped scallion.
Sesame oil.

Bring liquids to a boil. Add meat, mushrooms, shoots, tofu, and wood ears. Reboil. Add everything else except the beaten egg, cornstarch water and scallion. Bring back to a boil, and while stirring soup, mix in the cornstarch water and drizzle in the beaten egg.
Add a few drops sesame oil, apportion into bowls, and strew the chopped scallion over.

This soup is incredibly popular, not only among white people. The reason is that it is actually very tasty, and warms you up nicely on a cold autumn night.
Some ingredient quantities are very flexible, depending on how filling you want this to be, and how hot. The heat should be primarily dependent on the white pepper, not on the toban sauce (which can be left out) or the Tabasco (which can also be left out).
The amount of vinegar can be increased. The addition of chopped cucumber is not traditional.


鹹苦瓜 HAAM FU GWA
Dressed bitter melon.

2 TBS dry shrimp (海米 'hoi may').
2 TBS sherry.
2 TBS soy sauce.
2 TBS lime juice or vinegar.
2 TBS sugar.
2 TBS oil.
A little finely minced garlic, ginger, and green chili.

Two or three bitter melons (苦瓜 'fu gwa').

Mix everything except the bitter melon and the oil, and let stand for 2 or 3 hours. Heat the oil in a pan and sizzle the steeped shrimp and their liquid. After a few seconds, decant. It is now a dressing that can be used for blanched vegetables.

Cut the bitter melons in half, remove the pith and seeds. Slice across into thick slivers. Blanch in some boiling salted water, drain, and toss with the dressing. Let stand half an hour, retoss before serving.


炒菜心 CHAU CHOI SAM
Stirfried flowering mustard.

One bunch choisum (菜心), root end trimmed, rinsed.
Half a cup finely chopped meat.
Two TBS sherry.
Two TBS stock.
Two Tsp equal parts cornstarch and water mixed.
A small amount of minced garlic and ginger.
Pinch salt.
Pinch sugar.

Heat wok with a little oil. Stirfry the vegetable for one minute with the pinch salt. Add a splash of liquid to steam-flash the vegetable, stir two minutes more, and remove from heat. Arrange on a plate as if it were asparagus.

Stirfry the meat with the salt, garlic, and ginger till fragrant and no longer raw, about a minute or so. Sizzle with the sherry, add the stock and starch water, cook till it becomes glossy, and pour over the choisum, leaving ends bare.


油燜雙菇 YAU MUN SEUNG GU
Double mushroom casserole.

12 black mushrooms.
12 fresh champignons.
One small can bamboo shoot shreds, rinsed.
One cup stock.
3 TBS oil.
2 TBS. soy sauce.
1 TBS. equal parts cornstarch and water mixed.
2 Tsp. sugar
Sesame oil for drizzling.

Soak the black mushrooms for an hour in a little water with a pinch of sugar.
Meanwhile simmer the cleaned champignons in the stock on low heat.
Drain the black mushrooms (trim the stems) and the champignons, reserving liquids.
Heat the oil in a pan, add both sets of mushrooms and the bamboo shoots. Stirfry briefly, add the liquids and sugar. Cook on high till toasty hot, about three minutes. And the cornstarch water to thicken and velvetize, drizzle a little sesame oil over to finish.


紅燒雞翅 HONG-SIU KAI CHI
Braised chicken wings.

A dozen chicken wings.
A dozen black mushrooms.
One cup stock.
Quarter cup soy sauce.
Quarter cup sherry.
Two TBS sugar.
Two scallions, coarse cut.
A little minced ginger.

Trim the tips off the wings, and cut them in two at the joints. Soak the mushrooms for thirty or forty minutes in a little water with a pinch of sugar. Drain, reserve liquid.

Lightly stirfry ginger and scallion, then add the wings, sugar, and half of the soy sauce. Once the wings have darkened, add everything else, and simmer for half an hour.


沙爹酱蛤 SA-TE JEUNG GAP
Clams in saté (peanut) sauce.

One pound of clams, scrubbed and rinsed.
One scallion, coarse cut.
One garlic glove, chopped.
Quarter cup stock.
Two TBS sherry.
Two TBS. oil.
One TBS. smooth peanut butter.
Dash of Tabasco.
1 Tsp. Sugar.
1 Tsp. cornstarch.

Mix the stock, sherry, peanut butter, Tabasco, sugar, and cornstarch till smooth.
Put clams, scallion, oil, and a jigger of water into a saucepan. Cook on moderate heat with the lid on till the clams open, agitating occasionally. When the shell are open, add everything else. While stirring, bring to a boil. Simmer shortly, remove unopened shells, and serve.


回鍋肉 WUI-WOK YIUK
Twice-cooked pork.

Half a pound of streaky pork.
One green bell pepper, chunked.
One Jalapeño, seeded and rinsed in hot water.
2 or 3 cloves garlic.
2 or 3 slices of ginger.
2 or 3 scallions, coarse cut.
Quarter cup stock.
2 TBS. sherry.
1 TBS. toban sauce (豆瓣酱 'touban jeung').

Simmer the pork whole with ginger and scallion, in lightly salted water to cover for half an hour.
Drain, slice thin.

Crisp the pork and bell pepper in a hot pan with some oil. Add the garlic and Jalapeño, toss briefly, and sizzle with the sherry. Add the stock and toban sauce, and turn over high heat to coat the meat. Remove to a serving plate.

[The reason why twice-cooked pork in most Chinese restaurants tastes so miserable is because they substituted lean meat. White folks often panic when fatty pork is used, you see. But it really doesn't work with loin, it needs the streaky stuff.]


炒肉絲 CHAU YIUK SEE
Stir-fried meat shreds.

One pound lean meat, matchstick cut across grain.
One bell pepper, cut similarly.
Two TBS. wood ear (木耳 'muk yi').
A little chopped garlic and ginger.
Tabasco and sesame oil.

Marinade:
Half TBS. soy sauce.
Half TBS. sherry.
1 Tsp. cornstarch
1 Tsp. oil.
Generous pinch of sugar.

Sauce:
Half TBS. soy sauce.
Half TBS. sherry.
1 Tsp. sugar.

Soak the wood ear for 30 or 40 minutes and drain.
Marinate meat while the wood ear is soaking, then stirfry briefly in a hot pan to change the colour and remove from to plate.
Gild the wood ear, bell pepper, garlic, and ginger. Before the garlic turns evil, sizzle in the sauce ingredients. Add the meat, toss to mix and mingle, add a dash of Tabasco and a drizzle of sesame oil, and plate it.


NOTES

When stirfrying, the wok should be smoking, the hand quick. As with everything else, pre-prep is everything. The actual cooking time is very short, but you should have all ingredients ready before you turn up the heat.

These eight dishes are authentic, although the addition of Tabasco is, of course, a heterodox touch. Real Chinese cooking would use 辣酱 (laat jeung) instead, and Cantonese people would eschew even that.
Sherry is a more than reasonable substitute for Chinese rice wine, having the same strength and an almost identical taste. Here in California sherry is native, but rice wine isn't - so why not?

If you want to go the whole nine yards, prepare most or all of these dishes as a full meal for your friends. Or do a few of them, and get some roast duck from a Chinatown takeout, along with some charsiu or siuyiuk.
Remember to send your kids off to Mickey D's for a happy meal in the meantime. They'll be happier. So will your friends.



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JING GWAT KAI - STEAMED CHICKEN

If I get home early tonight, I’ll make dinner. I feel like cooking. Besides, I’ve got a big ….
Bag ….
Of dried oysters!

You’re all excited. I can tell.

Actually, the problem is that some Chinatown ingredients are sold in minimum quantities that far exceed the needs of a normal two-person household. And seeing as Savage Kitten and I never eat together anymore, since we broke up, I seldom cook for more than one person. It's a quandary.
Perhaps you could move in? I promise the senior teddy bear won’t object (though the one-legged monkey might), as long as you are small, clean, and intelligent.
Savage Kitten probably won’t mind either, as you will undoubtedly improve my mental and moral state. Provided you’re small, clean, and intelligent.

Anyhow, big bag of dried oysters. Gotta use them somehow. Everything I’ve cooked in the past two weeks has, remarkably, included dried oysters.


Which is why this dish is chicken.


蒸滑雞
JING GWAT KAI - SLICK STEAMED CHICKEN

One pound of chicken, chunked large for chopstick grabbing.
Half a dozen big dried mushrooms (冬菇 dong gu).
Half a dozen dried oysters (蠔豉 ho si).
One clove garlic, smashed and minced.
One and a half TBS sherry.
One TBS soy sauce (豉油 si yau).
One TBS ginger juice.
1½ Tsp. cornstarch.

Shredded ginger, dark sesame oil (芝麻油 jee ma yau), minced scallion, sugar.

[You knew I was going to use dried oysters in this, didn't you?]


Soak the dried mushrooms and dried oysters for about forty five minutes in warmish water with a pinch of sugar. Rinse and drain. Add a drizzle of plain cooking oil and turn to coat. This maintains their integrity during the steaming that will follow.

Marinate chicken chunks with the soy sauce and sherry, plus the ginger juice, a generous pinch of sugar, and the cornstarch. Same length of time as the soaking of the dried ingredients. You might want to rub the cornstarch into the surface of the chicken chunks.

Combine the chicken, oysters, mushrooms and garlic in a broad shallow bowl, with a little of the marinade and a dash of the dry-ingredient soaking liquid. Place in the steamer, and steam for between twelve and fifteen minutes over fiercely boiling water. Remove carefully (hot!).
Drizzle a little sesame oil over for fragrance, strew the scallion and shredded ginger on top. Serve with rice and a vegetable.

A saucer of chili paste on the side, of course. I hope you like picant? You don't have to touch it if you don't want to.


乜嘢菜呀?
MAT-YE CHOI AH? - WHAT VEGS?

For the vegetable dish, I propose Chinese mustard green (油菜 yau choi) quick-blanched, stirfried with chicken fat and garlic in a hot wok, then splashed with chicken stock or sherry to flash-cook in the suddenly released steam.

["Oil vegetable" (油菜 yau choi) is the Cantonese name of a variety of brassica juncea. It is a very close relative of red-in-snow (雪里紅 suet lei hong), which is more often pickle-salted for use as a flavouring ingredient. Yau choi has stems of a pleasing apple-green, leaves slightly darker, and a crisply bitter taste. It is very good.]


NOTE: If you huiver at the idea of using dried oysters, you could substitute a few thick slices of Chinese sausage (臘腸 lap cheung). Or even something else. The key to this dish is the chicken - hence the name: 蒸滑雞.
It is slick (滑 gwat), because of the steaming, the cornstarch in the marinade, and the use of oil.

FURTHER NOTE: Ginger juice can be made by pressing chopped ginger in a garlic press, or mashing minced ginger with a little water in a mortar. The first method yields a stronger flavour than the second - adjust your quantities accordingly.

EVEN FURTHER NOTE: Really, I have far too much dried oyster for one man. Even the high quality Japanese dried oysters are quite cheap, especially when compared to some of the rarer Chinese dried ingredients. Dried oyster is a bargain. But I don't necessarily advise you buying any - you might not use them all in a reasonable amount of time. So tell you what: if you are small, clean, and intelligent, I'll give you some.



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TWO APPROACHES TO A CHINESE CHICKEN

Sometimes you just want to hang around drinking Genever with a few friends and snagging tasty bits with your chopsticks. In summer, when the weather is nice and indolence is tempting, this is precisely the thing to do.

[Of course if those friends are Chinese they might not like Genever, and you'll just have to make do with Remy Martin or Courvoisier. Weird.]

Here are two chicken dishes which are easy to make, and good for casual eating. The first one can also be done with pigeons, and is served cold. The second is great with liquor.
Serve both with some stirfried vegetables glazed with a little broth, cornstarch, and chicken fat (which makes it glisten nicely - appearance is very important).



HAM-SUI KAI
[Saltwater Chicken]

One three pound chicken.
Two cups water.
Half a cup of cane sugar.
Quarter cup of salt.
Jigger of rice wine or sherry.
Two star anise pods, two chopped scallion, two or three thick slices ginger (whacked with the back of the cleaver), and one clove garlic (also whacked).

Bring the water and the various flavourings listed to a boil. Simmer briefly, cool down and refrigerate.

In a second vessel heat enough water to inundate the chicken entirely. When it boils, do precisely that. Remove the chicken, rinse under cold water, and repeat. The third time place the chicken in the boiling water, put a lid on the pot, and turn off the heat. After thirty minutes remove the bird and rinse under cold water. It is now at the exact stage of cooked that Chinese people like, but if you are a queasy white person it would have done no harm if you had simmered it for a few minutes before turning off the heat. Or you could turn on the flame, and once it boils place the chicken in it one more time, turning off heat and letting it stand for ten minutes.

Once the birdie has been removed from the water for the last time wipe it dry, then brush it very thoroughly with sesame oil (the dark Chinese kind, not the healthfoodstore crap that white people buy).
Now prick the chicken all over with a needle, and place it in the cold salt-water mixture in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours.
To serve, chop it into chopstickable chunks, strew with a little freshly minced scallion, and sprinkle with a little of the soaking liquid.

[Note: the boil-water can be used for broth.]



LIEM KAI KIN
[Drenched Chicken Chunks]

One three pound chicken, chopped into chunks.
Half a cup of shelled peanuts.
Quarter cup of rice wine or sherry.
Two TBS expressed ginger juice.
One TBS cornstarch.
Half TBS sugar.
Half TBS soy sauce.
Plus:
Four cups broth.
Four cups rice wine or sherry.
Minced ginger and garlic.
Chopped scallion.

Marinate chicken pieces for an hour in the half cup sherry, ginger juice, corn starch, sugar, and soy sauce. Drain and pat dry. Reserve marinade.
Meanwhile wash and soak the peanuts to remove the red skins and to soften them.

Heat oil in a pan, add ginger, add garlic, then add chicken pieces, followed shortly by the peanuts. Stir over high heat till coloured somewhat and fragrant. Add the sherry and the broth, bring to a boil, turn low and simmer for twenty minutes. Remove the chicken pieces to a dish. Add the reserved marinade to the pan, bring to a boil, and pour over the chicken. Let it stand a few minutes, then garnish with the chopped scallion and serve.


Some plain boiled rice would not be amiss, nor some lengthwise sliced cucumber for nibbling either. Also put a large pot of tea on the table - it stimulates conversation and helps you deal with a surfeit of alcohol. Melon and oranges.