Crispy Fried Chicken
A crisp, tender, and flavorful Cantonese dish.
Ingredients
Whole chicken (about 750g)
1
Cooking wine
4 g
Water chestnut starch
5 g
Maltose
4 g
White vinegar
4 g
White braising liquid (made with salt, star anise, cinnamon, tsaoko, dried tangerine peel, and water)
to taste
Lard (for frying)
to taste
Instructions
1
Step 1
Prepare a young, tender whole chicken by removing the internal organs and wiping it clean of blood. Soak it thoroughly in the prepared white braising liquid for two hours. (The braising liquid is made by boiling salt, star anise, cinnamon, tsaoko, dried tangerine peel, and water.) Remove the chicken and wipe it dry, then mix maltose, white vinegar, and water chestnut starch together and rub the mixture evenly all over the chicken. After air-drying, apply another coating made from water chestnut starch, wine, and vinegar.
2
Step 2
In a separate wok, heat the lard to about 60% of smoking point. Place the chicken head into the hot oil to fry, while simultaneously ladling hot oil into the cavity through the vent. Once the head turns golden brown and the cavity is heated through, lower the legs into the oil and continue frying while ladling oil over the entire body. When the skin turns golden brown, remove the chicken and carve it. First remove the legs and wings, then slice through the middle into two halves, and finally cut into smaller pieces. Reassemble on a serving plate in the shape of a whole chicken, arranged in two rows with the breast meat in the center, leg meat on the sides, and the head at the front. Serve with pepper salt on the side.
