Salt-roasted Chicken With Marinade

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Title: SALT-ROASTED CHICKEN WITH MARINADE
Categories: Chinese, Chicken, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 4 servings

1 Roasting chicken, 4 1/2 to
-5 lbs.
1 lg Piece caul fat or
-cheesecloth soaked in oil
5 lb To 6 lb coarse (kosher)
-salt or rock salt

-------------------------MARINADE-------------------------
3 sl Fresh ginger root
3 Whole garlic cloves,
-lightly crushed
3 Whole scallions, cut into
-3-inch sections
1 tb Peanut oil
1 tb Bean sauce
2 tb Thin soy sauce
1 tb Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
1 tb Sugar
1 Whole star anise
1 ts Whole Sichuan peppercorns,
-roasted
1/4 c Chicken broth
8 Whole stems Chinese parsley

Method: Salt-roasting

[This marinade can also be used on roasted duck. S.C.]

Fill the chicken with the marinade, skewer it shut,
and allow it to dry for 1 1/2 hours.

1. Wrap the chicken in a large piece of caul fat or
cheesecloth soaked in oil.

2. Heat the salt in a pot [heavy Dutch oven, big wok
or whatever can take the heat. S.C.] on top of the
stove over a low flame or in the oven at 350F for at
least 1 hour. Pour off some of the salt, leaving just
enough to cover the bottom of the pot. Lay the
chicken on top of the salt in the pot and cover it
with the remaining salt. Cover the pot and bake the
chicken for 1 1/2 hours.

3. Remove the chicken from the salt.

4. Pull off the salt that remains caked on the
chicken. Be careful, because the salt is hot.

5. With a paper towel, wipe away the remaining salt.
(The salt in the pot can be reused.)

6. Peel off the caul fat, drain the marinade, and cut
the chicken into bite-size pieces.

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course.

May be served hot or cold; if cold, the chicken may be
prepared up to a day in advance. (Do not reheat.)

Suggested beverage: Pinot Noir or Burgundy

From "Chinese Technique" by Ken Hom with Harvey
Steiman. Simon and Schuster, New York. 1981.

This is a good "guest" food. You can appear to have
mastered esoteric Oriental cooking techniques without
ever having actually prepared the dish before...
Unless you drop the pot on the kitchen floor and set
it on fire with the hot salt, it's a pretty foolproof
cooking technique.

I'd serve this two recipe with hot mustard, a bowl of
hoisin sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, spiced salt and a
bowl of chopped green onions for dipping along with
some sweet Chinese pickles and lots of ice-cold
Oriental beer. Heaven! (And rice, of course.)

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; August 12 1992.

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