Crispy Skinned Chicken, Black Vinegar Caramel. Here it is. I am going to be very pushy and say YOU must make this. OK?
My sister thought she had some kind of training skill with chickens. The chickens lived at Nan’s house next door to our own
Of course this is very fanciful thinking, at least thats what we thought. She spent quite a lot of time training and we mostly paid no attention at all, with the exception of times she was on the roster for washing up ,and wasn’t available due to her packed shedule. On one occasion however she appeared to be concealing some interesting happening in the chicken pen. This of course piqued our interest and we discovered on crashing her next training session, that there was indeed a secret…… a chicken was sitting on 4 eggs and….. we all wanted to reserve one. Once the chicks had hatched we each chose a a baby that we now decided to spend time with just like my younger sister. ( It was never a certainty that chickens couldn’t be trained). We were not allowed to remove the babies in order to bring them to our rooms as Mum insisted Twinkle ( the cat) would eat them. ( ……..sure Mum).
Our sudden interest in the chickens must have annoyed her slightly, but she had to make room for us. (we were older and bigger) As the chicks grew we became slightly less interested and left their training and welfare to her. When they were scrawny teenagers it became clear that my oldest sisters’ chicken was not a chicken at all. He was an unwelcome non- egg layer . There can only be one Rooster in a pen and this meant her pet had to go. One day at dinner sitting around the table with Dad carving the chicken my sister suddenly piped up and asked Dad what shop the chicken had come from. The rest of us were oblivious gnawing on our chicken and mashed potato, the proof that she was always brighter than us,because this dinner was her pet chicken. She did not speak to Dad for some time and decided then, that she would become Vegetarian. She is still to this day not so fond of most meat. The rest of the chickens grew into hens with only my youngest sister training them.
I can only say that Dad didn’t make this recipe………..
This recipe is based on one that Charlie Louie from Hotly Spiced posted some weeks ago. It’s been adapted a little so here goes.
Crispy skinned Chicken, Black Vinegar Caramel
Ingredients
- 2 SKIN ON thigh fillets per person.
Masterstock
- 2 litres water
- 750 ml Shoaxing wine 1 bottle
- 125 ml light soy
- 75 ml dark soy
- 100 gm yellow rock candy
- 2 pieces dried citrus peel from Asian store
- 2 pieces of cassia bark
- 4 whole star anise
- 1 large ginger sliced
- 4 cloves garlic
Five Spice Salt
- 1 Tablespoon white peppercorns
- 1 Tablespoon five spice
- 3 Tablespoons flaked sea salt
Black Vinegar Caramel
- 200 gm white sugar 1 cup
- 60 ml water 3 tablespoons
- 125 ml black Vinegar ** ( chinkiang 1/2 cup )
- 10 ml light soy 2 teaspoons
Salad
- 150 gm carrot grated, (1 cup)
- 300 gm White cabbage finely sliced
- 50 gm Spanish onion fine sliced
- 2 cups mixed herbs (coriander mint, thai basil, vietnamese mint)
- 50 gm rice noodles cooked
- 50 gm peanuts crushed roasted.
- 500 ml peanut oil or vegetable oil
Instructions
- If making Masterstock for the first time put all of the Masterstock ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 30 minutes. If using a stored masterstock skim off any fat and bring up to a boil before using again
- Crush the white pepper corns until a fine powder. Add the five spice and sea salt and grind until fine. Set aside
- To make the black vinegar caramel, put all of the ingredients (sugar, vinegar, soy, water) into a small pot and bring to a simmer. Gently simmer for several minutes until it is reduced by 1/3.
- To cook the chicken : Slip the chicken into the stock and turn the heat to simmer. Once the liquid has come back to a simmer, turn it off, put the lid on and let stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Lift a thigh out and cut through the thickest part of the thigh to check it is cooked through.
- Scoop out all of the chicken. set the stock aside to strain and refrigerate to use again. Meanwhile lay the chicken on a try . The secret to this dish is dry skin. the dryer the skin the crispier it will be when it is recooked before serving.
- Leave the chicken for a few hours or overnight (in the fridge uncovered) . If you aren't able to do this, wipe the skin with a paper towel ( the drier the skin the crispier the result).
- The chicken is nicest shallow fried. Heat a deep fry pan and add 1/2 cups of peanut or vegetable oil. Dip the chicken in the five spice mix both sides, and shallow fry the pieces skin side first until crispy and brown. Turn over and fry briefly. Serve with the salad tossed with a little of the vinegar caramel and a side of sauce.
- !!!Masterstock can be kept indefinitely and reused each time you want to poach. Bring it back to the boil after using and strain. Keep it in the refrigerator or freeze it for later use. Use the stock to cook chicken wings, breasts, quail, whole chicken or duck, duck breasts, spatchcock or pork ribs.
Notes
I’ve been playing with masterstock and will post soon. This is a TERRIBLE story — the kind of thing that really traumatizes a child. I’m not surprised it changed your sister’s attitude to meat. This recipe, however, looks delicious! Love the addition of the black vinegar caramel.
Ha yes…. shes still squeamish
Tania, I could eat the title of your post before I even read the text! 🙂 Your poor sis…
Utterly and totally delicious- have all the ingredients listed, ready for when I storm an asian supermarket. Thanks for the fab recipe!
That chicken looks delicious! I really love the black vinegar caramel.
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh yum. I love crispy skin chicken. It’s my favourite thing to order from my favourite noodle bar. I’ve never attempted it at home because I’d imagined it would be deep fried. I can totally handle shallow frying though 🙂
I can’t believe you remembered that! Oh what a chilling night when I learned my chicken’s fate, yes how would he think he could fool me! He put the chicken in a plain plastic bag…..as if I wouldn’t figure that out!!!!!! Anyway I mostly stick to chocolate as an alternative to chicken now …..it works for me.
Well it is part of the memory that is my head and consumed all our little lives for a while
Oh my this chicken is so to my taste! It looks utterly delicious!
A similar fate befell the pet lamb of a friend of mine. While she was away one weekend, her husband slaughtered him, butchered him, parcelled him up and froze him in little packs labelled “Henry’s leg”, “Henry’s shoulder” etc.
She was not amused.
Thats awful actually!!
Oh the poor thing! I became vegetarian when I was a teenager for about ten years as a result of a similar experience. I was tricked into eating rabbit, and although the individual rabbit wasn’t my actual pet, I had a pet rabbit and I couldn’t process the thought of eating one at all! It’s a bit like telling a dog lover to eat dog when in China! Needless to say ten years after the incident I developed a severe iron deficiency – so I caved and returned back to my wicked carnivorous ways!
oh my sister will love your story
Poor rooster. But, he had a good life. It must have smelled delicious as the chicken cooked in the stock. The vinegar caramel sounds great too!
wow I love this! The chicken looks so crisp and tender.
Thanks to you and Charlie for a delicious sounding recipe. I can’t wait to try chicken prepared this way.
Now this is my kind of a dish. I just love chicken cooked in a Thai master stock and black vinegar caramel is just the best. Great recipe!
Ha Ha Mrs Spicey, thanks for the inspiration
That is kind of what happened to us. We brought home “Diana” the chicken and he left “Henry” the rooster 😛 But we didn’t eat Henry, he was given to a friend who had a big farm sized backyard. Your poor sister!
I loved the idea of this when Charlie Louie posted it, and I love it still. Now to find the black vinegar here in my little corner of Mexico…It looks so appealing, Tania. Thanks.
I suggest that you use rice wine vinegars or lime juice, sweeten it up add some soy and chilli