Salt baked chicken

Well, other than loving beauty, I also like to eat :) A lot. Came across this recipe today. Looks really quick and easy. Too good not to share :) Enjoy!

CNY '09: Hed Chef's recipe for Salt Baked Chicken
Mon Jan 12 2009


SALT-BAKED CHICKEN
Ingredients
One whole chicken
3 stalks of spring onion
50g young ginger, peeled and smashed
50g blue ginger, peeled and smashed
2 whole star anise
1 tsp five spice powder
2 slices of dried mandarin orange peel
2 tbsp rice wine, or sherry
2 tsp kosher salt (from major supermarkets)
Dash of white pepper
2 tbsp of dark soya sauce
3kg kosher salt
3 large sheets of grease-proof paper

Method
1.Wash and pat dry chicken. Remove only the head and claws. Tuck the chicken legs into the body cavity.

2.Rub rice wine, salt and five spice powder into the cavity of the chicken, then place spring onion, young ginger, blue ginger, star anise, orange peel inside and add a dash of pepper.

3.Rub dark soya sauce all over the outside of the chicken.

4.Place chicken on a rack and leave it to dry for an hour in front of the fan. If not, leave it for two hours, until the skin is dry.

5.Heat a wok and pour salt in.

6.Once salt heats up, take one-third of it and put in separate container. Reserve this.

7.Lay the three sheets of grease-paper and place chicken on top. Wrap the chicken in individual layers as tightly as possible.

8.Once you see the salt begin to smoke slightly, place wrapped chicken – breast side up – in the salt snugly and pour reserved salt over the top, covering as much of the entire chicken as possible.

Be sure that when you place the chicken in the wok, it is sitting on a layer of salt and not in direct contact with the wok. Cover and leave on medium heat for 11/2hours.

Do use a cheap wok or big pot that you do not intend to use for frying or daily use because the salt causes the metal to corrode quite rapidly.

If you prefer to use the oven instead of a wok, use a deep casserole dish into which you can fit the whole chicken.

Heat the oven to 180 degC. Pour salt into the casserole and heat for half an hour. Then remove about one-third of the salt, place the wrapped chicken in and pour the salt over it to cover it as much as possible. Bake for 11/2 hours.

Reproduced from www.SoShiok.com.
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