Lemon-Baked Quail
A Zhejiang-style dish: quail is fried until nearly cooked through, then baked with lemon juice, yielding a savory, tangy, aromatic flavor and tender meat.
Ingredients
Quail (remove the head, discard the innards and wash clean, then coat with soy sauce and rice wine)
10
Lemon (cut in half, for juicing)
250g
Refined salt
3 tsp
MSG (monosodium glutamate)
1.5 tsp
Sugar
3 tsp
Soy sauce (used to coat the quail for color)
3 tsp
Chili oil (the original calls for chili oil, though the steps refer to spicy soy sauce)
3 tsp
Shaoxing rice wine
3 tsp
Peanut oil (for deep-frying)
500g
Sesame oil
1 tsp
Ground white pepper
1 tsp
Scallion (sliced)
3 segments
Ginger (sliced)
1 piece
Instructions
1
Preparing the quail
Use a knife to chop off the quail's head. With your hands, peel off the skin and feathers together starting from the neck. Remove the innards, wash clean, and coat with soy sauce and rice wine (for color). Slice the scallion and ginger. Cut the lemon in half.
2
Frying the quail
Heat a generous amount of oil over high heat. Fry the quail, which has been coated in soy sauce, until it is about 80% cooked, then remove from the oil.
3
Braising
Leave a thin layer of oil in the wok. Return to high heat, add the scallion and ginger to release their fragrance, then add the quail. Splash in the rice wine, then add the spicy soy sauce, refined salt, sugar, white pepper, MSG, and water. Cover and simmer over low heat until cooked through. Increase to high heat to reduce the sauce, stir in the lemon juice, drizzle with the sesame oil, toss to coat evenly, and serve.
