Drunken Chicken

Chicken legs, two. We’ll be deboning these… a little bigger or a little smaller’s totally fine – you’ll get one roll per leg. Note that most traditionally, they’d debone an entire chicken and roll that up – we… didn’t feel like doing that, but feel free to do so if you’d like (IIRC you’d have to up the steaming time to ~1 hour). Also, if I’m remembering right I think in the USA they sold deboned thighs at the supermarket (i.e. without the drumstick?) – you could use those too, but the rolls’ll be a bit thinner… so when cooking go by temperature instead of our timing guidelines. Chicken legs, two. We’ll be deboning these… a little bigger or a little smaller’s totally fine - you’ll get one roll per leg. Note that most traditionally, they’d debone an entire chicken and roll that up - we… didn’t feel like doing that, but feel free to do so if you’d like (IIRC you’d have to up the steaming time to ~1 hour). Also, if I’m remembering right I think in the USA they sold deboned thighs at the supermarket (i.e. without the drumstick?) - you could use those too, but the rolls’ll be a bit thinner… so when cooking go by temperature instead of our timing guidelines.

To steam the chicken: ~1 inch of sliced ginger and a solid glug of Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒/花雕酒). Sorry for the measurement of ‘glug’ there, this doesn’t need to be an exact science.

Water: 3 cups. For the brine. We’ve seen recipes that use stock here as a base… you could go that route, but just be careful – you’d want a really nice stock like superior stock; i.e. one that’s flavored with more meat than bone. The stock should still be a liquid when stored in the fridge for it to work properly (so like, no-go on simple Chinese homestyle stocks and definitely a nope on western stocks)… otherwise, you’ll be soaking the chicken in salty-boozy-jelly instead of brine. Water: 3 cups. For the brine. We’ve seen recipes that use stock here as a base… you could go that route, but just be careful - you’d want a really nice stock like superior stock; i.e. one that’s flavored with more meat than bone. The stock should still be a liquid when stored in the fridge for it to work properly (so like, no-go on simple Chinese homestyle stocks and definitely a nope on western stocks)… otherwise, you’ll be soaking the chicken in salty-boozy-jelly instead of brine.

Spices for the brine: 2 star anise (八角), 1 cinnamon stick (桂皮), ~15 whole cloves (丁香), ~1 tsp fennel seed (小茴香), 3g sand ginger (沙姜) -or- dried galangal -or- skip this, 5g goji berries (枸杞). The sand ginger (a.k.a. kencur/cutcherry) is optional here. The goji could be skipped I guess, but they’re so classic with this dish that I’d really recommend them.

Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒), 1 cup. Preferably a nicer one. If you’re in the West, try to find a bottle that says it’s Huadiao (or ‘Hua Tiao’)… unfortunately though, because of stupid alcohol laws it appears like – in the USA at least – most of the Shaoxing wine (even the Huadiao) might only be sold salted. If so, you can still move forward… but only after you write to your state congressman about how their pseudo-puritanical wine restrictions are directly harming the quality of your dinner. Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒), 1 cup. Preferably a nicer one. If you’re in the West, try to find a bottle that says it’s Huadiao (or ‘Hua Tiao’)… unfortunately though, because of stupid alcohol laws it appears like - in the USA at least - most of the Shaoxing wine (even the Huadiao) might only be sold salted. If so, you can still move forward… but only after you write to your state congressman about how their pseudo-puritanical wine restrictions are directly harming the quality of your dinner.

Seasoning: 2 tbsp salt (if using unsalted Shaoxing) or 1 tbsp salt (if using salted), 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp MSG (味精) -or- 1 tbsp fish sauce (鱼露) -or- a combination. So right, given that salted Shaoxing’s generally 1.5% salt, in this recipe it works out to about half. Also, interesting note on the MSG/Fish Sauce. Our old cookbooks called for MSG in the brine, but if you look on the back of the Zaolu pickle sauce bottle also contains Disodium inosinate. This is an additive that's often used in conjunction with MSG - Inosinate is the umami that comes from meat and particularly seafood. We were tasting the two (our brine and the Zaolu) side by side and the Zaolu just had this intense savoryness that we couldn't seem to replicate with just MSG. On a whim, the other day I did a quick gander online to see if anyone put fish sauce in their brine... and there were at least a couple recipes that did. I don't know how traditional it is, but I definitely think it might be a nice idea. If it was me, I'd probably toss in ~1 tsp of MSG with 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce. Seasoning: 2 tbsp salt (if using unsalted Shaoxing) or 1 tbsp salt (if using salted), 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp MSG (味精) -or- 1 tbsp fish sauce (鱼露) -or- a combination. So right, given that salted Shaoxing’s generally 1.5% salt, in this recipe it works out to about half. Also, interesting note on the MSG/Fish Sauce. Our old cookbooks called for MSG in the brine, but if you look on the back of the Zaolu pickle sauce bottle also contains Disodium inosinate. This is an additive that's often used in conjunction with MSG - Inosinate is the umami that comes from meat and particularly seafood. We were tasting the two (our brine and the Zaolu) side by side and the Zaolu just had this intense savoryness that we couldn't seem to replicate with just MSG. On a whim, the other day I did a quick gander online to see if anyone put fish sauce in their brine... and there were at least a couple recipes that did. I don't know how traditional it is, but I definitely think it might be a nice idea. If it was me, I'd probably toss in ~1 tsp of MSG with ½ tbsp of fish sauce.

You’ll also need a bit of gauze or cheesecloth (to wrap the chicken), some twine, and ideally some sort of steaming rack (preferred over a plate here so that the grease can render off while steaming).

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