Curing and preserving meat is actually less daunting than you would think of. In this Chinese air-dry chicken recipe, all you need is inexpensive cuts of meat, salt, seasonings and fresh air. The result? A completely changed texture and flavor of the meat and delicious food that surprises and pleases you.

As it dries naturally it the open air, there is only certain time of the year which is ideally for sausage-making. In China, people start the preparations of air-drying meat or other charcuterie-making after the winter solstice when the highest temperature won’t reach 10C°.

A very important food safety note – this air-dried chicken needs to be cooked before consumption. To cook it, you can easily steam them over high heat for 25 – 30 minutes. Once they are cool off, then cut them into thin slices.

To store the sausages, place them in the fridge for up to 10 days and freezer for 3 months.

Yield about 2kg

• 5kg bone-in chicken thigh鸡腿
• 5 bay leaves香叶
• 5g Star anise八角
• 20g Sichuan peppercorns花椒
• 75g Sea salt (3% of the total amount of chicken)粗海盐
• 25ml Chinese liquor高度白酒

 Method

1. Wash the chicken thigh under running water. Pat dry with kitchen towel.
2. Place a frying pan over low or low-medium heat. Fry all the dry seasoning ingredients of bay leaves, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns and salt. Stir from time to time to cook evenly. Fry about 10 minutes until aromatic and salt turns pale yellow. Turn off the heat. Move the pan aside and let it completely cool off.
   

   
3. Use a big bowl. Place one layer of chicken in the bowl. Then sprinkle some seasoning ingredients on the top. Drizzle it with a bit of Chinese liquor. Place another layer of chicken on the top of the first one. Sprinkle seasonings and drizzle with Chinese liquor. Repeat the process until chicken, seasoning ingredients and liquor are used up. Cover the bowl. Leave it in the fridge overnight or about 12 hours.
   

   
4. Hang the chicken in the open air. And let it dry up for about 4-5 days.

 

Dry-braising, literally translated from the term gan shao (干烧) in Mandarin, refers to a method in Chinese cooking that uses relatively less braising liquid at the start, and reduces most of the liquid towards the end of cooking.  The result? A perfectly braised fish imbued and draped with rich and concentrated sauce. This is a great way to cook any type of fish that has firm and mild-tasting flesh, such as fresh-water-fish tilapia used in this recipe. There are many sauce variations for the fish. But none of them beats this simple yet very satisfying sauce seasoned with Sichuan bean paste, doubanjiang, 豆瓣酱. By quickly stir-frying it in, doubanjiang’s beautiful red brown color and rich complex umami flavours are created and imparted to the golden and crispy Tilapia.

Serves 3-4,  

• Whole tilapia (or seabass and red snapper), about 850g, scale and gut (roughly 1kg before scale and gut)罗非鱼，红鲷鱼或者海鲈鱼任一种，去鱼鳞及内脏. If you use smaller fish, please reduce the seasoning sauce below  proportionally
• 1 tablespoon   Chinese cooking wine
• ½ teaspoon    salt
• 1 cup       canola oil or any vegetable oil
• 4 slices      ginger, thinly sliced生姜

For the seasoning sauce

• 2 tablespoons      Sichuan fermented bean paste豆瓣酱
• 2 spring onions, white parts only, cut into small pieces青葱
• 3 to 4 small dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated. This is optional. But the mushroom certainly helps enrich the umami flavor for the dish. 香菇
• 2 teaspoons                 caster sugar白砂糖
• ½ tablespoon    light soy sauce生抽
• ½ tablespoon    dark soy sauce老抽
• 2 cups          water
• 2 tablespoons    corn starch淀粉
• 1/4 cup   water
• Salt to taste

 

• 1 Red chili or 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced, for garnishing
• 1 sprig       fresh cilantro, 香菜, for garnishing

Method

1. Scale the fish, discard the guts and clean well (I found a chain Korean grocery store called H-mart in my area which sells live Tilapia from fish tank in the store with free service of scale and gut). Pat dry the fish with kitchen paper towel. Slice the ginger. Slash the fish on both sides of the back to allow your seasoning to penetrate  evenly later.
2. Place the fish in a big bowl. Sprinkle evenly the half teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon of cooking wine on both sides of the back of the fish. Use your hand rub the cooking wine and salt into fish.
3. In the meantime, heat up the 1 cup of cooking oil in a wok or frying pan over high heat. Remember your frying pan should be big enough to allow the entire fish touch the surface of the pan. This takes about 2-3 minutes. Place the ginger slices in the oil. You will see ginger sizzling when oil is hot enough. When the ginger becomes wrinkled, very carefully place the entire fish in the drying pan. Turn the heat to medium high. Cook one side for 6 to 7 minutes till skin golden and crispy. During this 6-minute cooking time, do not try to use spatula to move it too much. Otherwise you may break the fish skin. You may gently shake the pan handle to keep the fish from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then use your spatula to gentle flip the fish. Fry over medium-high heat for another 6 to 7 minutes till golden and crispy.
   

   

   
4. Remove the fish from the pan and place in a big plate or just your serving plate. Line the plate with kitchen towel to help absorb the oil.
5. Now let’s make the sauce. Keep only about 2 tablespoons of the residual oil in the frying pan and get rid of the rest. Turn up the heat and place 2 tablespoons of Sichuan fermented bean paste. Fry over medium heat or about 2-3 minutes till fragrant. Add into sliced spring onions and cook for another 2 minutes. Add minced shiitake mushroom and cook for 1 minute. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and ½ tablespoon of light soy sauce and ½ tablespoon of dark soy sauce, add into 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil.
   

   

   
6. Return the fish into the frying pan and let the fish simmer over medium-low heat for about 10-12 minutes. Flip the fish half way through. In the meantime, mix corn starch and water to make water corn starch.
   

   
7. Remove the fish out of the pan again and place it in a serving plate – be very careful. The fish is now very soft and needs careful attention to avoid breaking.
8. Add the water starch into the frying pan to thicken the sauce. Taste the sauce. Add salt if needed. Pour the sauce on top of the fish. Garnish the fish with cilantro and red chili slices.
9. Serve hot with a bowl of rice!

 

 

I tried to give this unadorned but deeply flavorful roasted chicken with an Asian touch by using a vibrant sauce of shallots, garlic, jalapeno and soy sauce.  The chef Jonathan Waxman created the Italian version at Barbuto, then-Italian restaurant in the West Village, New York City.  One important thing I also learned that the magic to this legendary crispy-skinned roast chicken is to baste.

 Serve 4

• I whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds or about 1.75 kg – 2.25kg
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

For the sauce

• 5 to 6 jalapenos or any long green pepper, minced
• 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 small shallots minced
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• ½ teaspoon or to taste cooking salt
• 2 tablespoons                    light soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon   caster sugar
• 1/3 cup     water
• ½ tablespoon    freshly squeezed lime juice
  

  

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425F°/210C°. Wash the chicken in hot water and dry with paper towels. Coat the chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season the chicken with generous amount of sea salt and fresh black pepper. Dab an earthenware or metal baking dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place the chicken inside it. Roast for 30 minutes.
   

   

   

   

   
2. Then basting it every 7 to 8 minutes. Do the basting for 3 to 4 times. Basting is a culinary technique for moistening the surface of roasting meat, poultry, or other foods with pan drippings, stock, butter, or some other liquid. In addition to contributing moisture, basting adds flavor (as long as the basting liquid is flavorful) to the surface of the meat. What you need to do is gradually pouring the liquid at the bottom of the pan, in which the meat is being cooked, over the chicken, spoon by spoon. You will hear the beautiful ‘cracking’ sound after the hot liquid on the chicken skin. Just to be extremely careful, the oven is very hot. You will want to wear heavy baking gloves.
   

   
3. Rotate the pan during basting to allow for even cooking. Bake the chicken till golden. How long does it take to cook a chicken? Generally, it takes between 10 minutes to 12 minutes per pound. The chicken is done when the juices from the thigh run clear (about 165 F°). A 4 to 5 pounds chicken would need to cook about 50 – 60 minutes in the oven of 425 F°. Move the chicken out of the oven. Let the chicken to sit for about 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, you can start make the sauce. Place a sauce pan over low medium fire, add cooking oil and minced shallots and garlic, fry for about 3 minutes till soft, then add into minced jalapeno, add into soy sauce, sugar and salt, cook for another 2 minutes, add water. Place the sauce in a small sauce bowl. Drip into the freshly squeezed lime juice.
5. Use a knife roughly cut the chicken into big pieces, pour onto 80% of the sauce. Save the rest of 20% to bring it to the dining table for sharing. Ready to serve.

Opo Squash, or “Chinese Long Squash’ or 瓠子hù zǐ,  is a native Chinese and Southeast Asian squash similar to a zucchini. Belonging to the gourd family, it has pale green skin, white flesh and very mild flavor. The humble vegetable is a great source of fiber and provides rich vitamins and minerals. It  can be seasoned with a variety of items, and generally absorbs the flavors of other ingredients when it is used in a stir-fry, soup or stew.
Serves 2-4

500g to 600g     one big long squash瓠子

6 – 8            small dry shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and minced

2               spring onions, white and green parts separated, chopped

1.5 tablespoons   cooking oil

2 tablespoons       light soy sauce 生抽

¼ cup            chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon       sesame oil (optional)

 Method

1. Place dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl filled with warm water. Let it rehydrate for about 20-30 minutes till soft. Mince the rehydrated mushrooms and chop the spring onions.
2. Peel the squash, trim the end pieces, then cut the squash into half-inch small pieces. Use the tip of your knife to cut the criss-cross shape on the top for both sides for all the squash pieces. This will help the squash quickly absorb the seasoning sauce later. Place all the squash pieces in a bowl and microwave over high heat for 3-4 minutes till softened.
   

   

   

   
3. Add 1.5 tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, place the squash pieces, pan fry for 3-4 minutes till golden, flip the pieces to fry the other side, place minced mushrooms and white parts of the spring onion pieces and cook for another 3-4 minutes. In the meantime, mix the soy sauce and chicken stock. Pour the mixture evenly onto the squash. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped spring onion greens. Drizzle with sesame oil but this is optional.
   

   

   

   
4. Ready to serve.