Chinese Tea Smoked Chicken

[pepperhead212]

I will be two days late with my Chinese New Year dinner - Spring festival ends tomorrow, but we will have this on Sunday (friends had an emergency last weekend, plus, I didn't have the chicken!).

I finally found whole chicken that did not say something like "possibly 6% added water"! This has gotten way too common in chicken and pork; haven't seen it in beef yet, but it will happen, I'm sure.

The recipe calls for about a 4 lb chicken, cleaned and patted dry, 1/4 c kosher salt, a 1 1/2" piece of ginger, cut into julienne, 2 tb Szechwan peppercorns, 4 scallions, smashed, and cut into 2" pieces, 1 tb sugar, and 1 tb rice wine, mixed up, and spread over the chicken, inside and out. The original recipe calls for setting the bowl at room temp for 3 days (!), but I decided to put it in the fridge. I'm sure it is still done that way, in areas without refrigeration!
Ingredients for salting chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Salted chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Now I wait for 3 days, spreading the dry marinade around a few times. The chicken gets steamed, then dried - traditionally hung a few hours, but I'll put it in front of a fan, which I'll have to dig out! I'll post the rest later.

[JustJoel]

Originally Posted by pepperhead212

I will be two days late with my Chinese New Year dinner - Spring festival ends tomorrow, but we will have this on Sunday (friends had an emergency last weekend, plus, I didn't have the chicken!).

I finally found whole chicken that did not say something like "possibly 6% added water"! This has gotten way too common in chicken and pork; haven't seen it in beef yet, but it will happen, I'm sure.

The recipe calls for about a 4 lb chicken, cleaned and patted dry, 1/4 c kosher salt, a 1 1/2" piece of ginger, cut into julienne, 2 tb Szechwan peppercorns, 4 scallions, smashed, and cut into 2" pieces, 1 tb sugar, and 1 tb rice wine, mixed up, and spread over the chicken, inside and out. The original recipe calls for setting the bowl at room temp for 3 days (!), but I decided to put it in the fridge. I'm sure it is still done that way, in areas without refrigeration!
Ingredients for salting chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Salted chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Now I wait for 3 days, spreading the dry marinade around a few times. The chicken gets steamed, then dried - traditionally hung a few hours, but I'll put it in front of a fan, which I'll have to dig out! I'll post the rest later.

I made tea smoked chicken a couple of decades ago, in the oven! It was delicious. I misplaced the cookbook with the recipe, so I’ve never made it again.

I don’t recall spending that much time marinating and drying the chicken though. I’ll keep an eye on your thread so I can make some myself. Thanks!

[CraigC]

Haven't done chicken but have done duck.

[pepperhead212]

I sort of remember now why I don't do this more often. But it is worth it!

I think that a lot of this liquid in the pie plate is condensation, with the steam hitting the cold chicken, in the beginning, as the chicken was not the least bit dry.
Steamed chicken, with 2 c liquid in pie plate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken dried, ready for smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The smoking mix is 1/4 c brown sugar, 1/4 c black tea leaves, 1/4 c white rice, 3 cinnamon sticks, broken up, 3 tb Szechwan peppercorns, 6 star anise, broken up, and 1 tb salt.
Wok prepared for smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Lid on wok, sealed with some foil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tea smoked chicken, after 5 minutes smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished tea smoked chicken. by pepperhead212, on Flickr