Cantonese Chicken Roast

Chicken RoastAre you having a Chicken Roast?

A Chicken Roast shouldn’t be intimidating.  There are so many different ways to do it.  I think most people have the same fear they have on Thanksgiving.  No one wants to put in all the time it takes to prepare their meal just to end up with a dried out bird; and you never know until it’s done!  Right?  Wrong!  Keeping your Chicken Succulent and Sultry is relatively easy if you take a few simple steps, but most people don’t know what it is that makes the difference.  It’s just like standing right next to someone fishing, using the exact same gear, all the while they’re catching fish and you’re catching nothing.  What gives?  Well I’ll tell you.  All you are missing is the finesse, technique and experience.  I’m sure you’ve got all the experience though don’t you.  With that in mind, I want to be very clear about something.  I don’t care how much experience someone thinks they have doing anything, if they aren’t getting their desired result, every single time.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people tell me, “I’ve been doing this for X amount of years now…”, yet still witnessing failure right smack in front of their face!

Cantonese Chicken

Poultry can dry out from two different angles; from the inside or the outside.  It’s not that complicated.  Take care of both of those and you’re going to have a tender, moist roasted bird when your done.  The Inside needs moisture.  So you either need to stuff your Chicken Roast, or put some kind of moisturizer inside of it. This can be as easy as cracking a Beer can inside the cavity and Roasting your Chicken with that or stuffing it with fresh fruits or vegetables.  The outside, however, is another matter because you are directing all the heat that surrounds the Chicken on the outside of the bird.  So it will dry out very easily if you don’t tighten up the skin and put a marinade on it that will shrink up those pores so it can contain the moisture you’re putting in the inside.  There are 2 ways to do this.

The first way you’ve probably heard of but you most likely thought it was for other reasons.  Putting your oven on a really high heat, sometimes even a broil for a few minutes not only gets the color you want but it tightens up that skin.  Then if you wrap up your bird in Tin Foil, or if you cover it with a lid you keep most of the moisture locked in.  The other way of doing it is the way I show you in this video.  After the Chicken is stuffed I give the bird a bath with boiling water, one ladle at a time.  This kills bacteria and tightens up the skin and shrinks up those pores the way you need them to contain moisture.  After that, brushing a honey vinaigrette over the skin seals it up real nice and adds a sweet tangy flavor to the skin.  If you’re wondering why I didn’t mention anything about basting, it’s because basting doesn’t matter that much unless you’ve taken one of the two other steps and you are willing to bast and baby sit the Chicken Roast during the entire cooking process.

Cantonese Chicken Roast Ingredients:

STUFFING
1 Whole Chicken
2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
2 tbsp Five Spice Powder
2 tbsp Fresh Ginger
1 tsp Anise
1 bunch of Green Onions

HONEY VINAIGRETTE MARINADE
1/4 cup White Vinegar
1/4 cup Honey

Rinse your chicken in Cold water and dry.  Stuff the bird with the ingredients in the order listed.  Close and sew the abdomen of the bird and bathe with boiling water, one ladle at a time (Do Not Submerge the entire bird).  Mix the Vinaigrette and coat the whole chicken using a brush.  Marinate the Chicken for 24 hours in the refrigerator and brush the Vinaigrette every few hours.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  Enjoy your Cantonese Chicken Roast!

Soy Sauce Chicken or Shoyu Chicken

North Americans Call it Soy Sauce Chicken!

Soy Sauce Chicken is what the Hawaiian’s call Shoyu Chicken. Obviously a Soy based recipe involving chicken.  Not too complicated, but it does take a good hour and a half to get to the finished product.  Reduction is your friend when it comes to cooking this recipe, so you do need to pay attention to what you are doing; to an extent anyway.  Once you have all of the ingredients put together, all you have to do to manage the cooking is flip the chicken back and forth in a timely fashion; every 25 to 30 minutes.  In between I usually do other things.  I actually got a work out in and exercised in the back yard the entire time I filmed this recipe.

In the video, I mention that you can further reduce the sauce after you’ve pulled the chicken from the pot.  The reason why this is a good idea is because you can lay down another layer of sweet caramelized sauce over the top of the chicken once you pull it from the grill, and you can add it to your rice.  My biggest problem is that I don’t like to waste.  If I can flip the reduction and turn it into an awesome sauce, that’s a win-win for everyone.  I mean, we make gravy from Beef Roasts and turkey don’t we?  Exactly!

So there’s one of two things you want to do when you’re making this Soy Sauce Chicken.  You can add all the ingredients at the beginning and have a perfect sauce just waiting for you after you’ve taken the Soy Sauce Chicken to the Grill(which is easier and more ideal), or you can spare yourself the sugar content and control how much you add when you reduce the Shoyu Chicken Sauce.  Because we are reducing, the salt from the Soy Sauce is going to impose an overwhelming flavor if you don’t add other ingredients to get it under control.  Among these ingredients is Vinegar, more Sugar and water.  And it’s simple.  You add twice the sugar, half the vinegar and an equal amount of water.  That means, if you started out with 1 cup of sugar at the beginning of the recipe, you are going to add a second when you reduce the sauce; 1/2 a cup of white vinegar and 1 1/2 cups of water.  Taste it.  If it’s too bitter or too salty, just add more sugar.  Bring this to a boil and reduce while you’re grilling the Soy Sauce Chicken.

Soy Sauce Chicken Ingredients:

1 dozen mixed chicken pieces, wings, thighs, legs and Breasts
8 oz Soy Sauce then fill to the top of chicken with water
2 Green Onions
4 slices of Ginger
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1 tsp Anise
Fresh Cilantro (small hand full)

Bring all the ingredients to a boil and reduce the heat to medium, stirring and turning the chicken occasionally (every 25 to 30 minutes).  Cooking time will take approximately 1 1/2 hours to fully absorb the flavor and get tender enough to take it to the grill.  Be sure to save the leftover sauce in the bottom of the pan for basting and also for seasoning over rice.  Grilling on High heat will only take about 5 minutes.  It’s not required but it puts a nice texture and some beautiful grill marks on the skin.  I hope you try this Soy Sauce Chicken recipe soon!

Chicken Tenders

Chicken TendersChicken Tenders is where it’s at!

Chicken Tenders are so much better than McNuggets!  Why would you even torture your children with such rubble, convenience?  Shame on you!  Though I can relate to the quick stroll through a drive through, I just can’t feed my children crap anymore.  In fact the only reason I’m redoing my fried chicken recipe here with you today, other than it’s fantastic, is because of the constant controversy and up roar Micky D’s is always in.  A franchise that size shouldn’t be under that much scrutiny and proverbial gun fire if there truly wasn’t anything wrong with their food.  It’s sad.  I’ve always liked McDonald’s, enough anyway.  I’m not that picky when it comes to a burger joint though.  I’ll hit them all.  But now with GMO’s added to the conspiracy theories, how can we trust any major franchise to make our food?

Chicken Tenders are so easy to make and as always, they taste delicious.  So step into my office, and let’s once again nail down another easy gourmet recipe!

Chicken Tenders Ingredients:

1 chicken breast
1 cup of flour
1 tbsp crab boil seasoning
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp black pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup Whipping Cream
Peanut oil for frying

  • Cut the chicken breast into 3/8 inch slices
  • Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl
  • Whisk the egg and whipping cream together
  • Coat the chicken first in the dry ingredients then in the egg wash and back in the dry ingredients again.
  • Fry at 375 degrees until the chicken tenders float to the top and turn golden brown.