Perfumed Chicken

Name: Perfumed Chicken (Heung So Gai)
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 2 cinnamon sticks; 1 slice of fresh ginger; ¼ to ⅓ cup tapioca flour, sufficient to coat chicken; 5 cups peanut oil; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 whole egg, beaten; 4 cups cold water 1 cup white wine; 2 scallions; 2 teaspoons sugar; ¼ teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns; 3 whole pieces of 8-star anise; 1 whole fresh chicken, about 3½ pounds: wash, remove fat and membranes, dry, set aside; ¼ dried tangerine skin

Heung So Gai

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Chinese Banquet Cookbook

By Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

Published 1985

About

This lovely recipe illustrates a significant and often overlooked aspect of Szechuan cooking. Most people think that the cooking of Szechuan is all heat and spice, but it can be delicate and sophisticated, as you will see. There is an added bonus: If you add chopped vegetables to the cooking liquid, it becomes a wonderful soup.

Ingredients

1 whole fresh chicken, about 3½ pounds: wash, remove fat and membranes, dry, set aside
4 cups

Asia
China
Main course
Spicy
Soup

Method

In a large oval Dutch oven place the chicken. Add next 10 ingredients, from water to sugar. Cover and bring to a boil. Add dark soy sauce, then cover pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
Turn chicken over and simmer for another 20 minutes. Remove chicken and allow to cool and dry for 4 to 5 hours, or refrigerate overnight.
Place chicken in a large dish, the