Zhejiang Cuisine · FFET10209
Drunken chicken
Cooked chicken steeped in a brine of Shaoxing wine and stock, chilled, then cut and served cold.
A round white porcelain plate holds pale bone-in chicken leg pieces, with clear light amber wine brine pooling beneath, ginger slices, scallion pieces and red goji berries, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Zhejiang, with Hangzhou attentive to the season and Ningbo skilled with seafood.
Drunken chicken is cooked or steamed chicken steeped in Shaoxing wine and stock, chilled, and cut and served cold, often with a few goji berries. It is classified as Zhejiang cuisine, and the Shaoxing version is associated with Zhejiang. It is also common in Shanghai cooking. Similar dishes are found in Greece, Cyprus and Latin America. No dated text was found, and accounts of its origin differ.
What
Drunken chicken is cooked or steamed chicken steeped in Shaoxing wine, usually with stock, salt, sugar and goji berries, and cut and served cold.1,2,3,4,5
Where
Drunken chicken is classified as Zhejiang cuisine, and the Shaoxing version is associated with Zhejiang. It is also common in Shanghai cooking and restaurants. Accounts of its origin differ, so this entry draws no conclusion.1,2,3,4,5
How
The chicken is poached or steamed, cooled in ice water, and soaked in a brine of Shaoxing huadiao wine and stock in the refrigerator. The 2 versions use a 24-hour soak; 1 recommends eating it within 3 days afterward.3,4,5
Why
It is a cold appetizer. The chicken goes into the wine brine 1 day ahead, so the dish is made in advance.2,3,4,5
Impact and influence
Similar dishes are found in Greece, Cyprus and Latin America.2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler way I make it at home: bone-in chicken legs, not deboned or rolled, cooked through, cooled in ice water, and soaked in the wine brine in the refrigerator for a day. Both named recipes use the same amounts of wine and stock, so I do too. Their salt differs, and I take an amount in between; the sugar follows the smaller amount. How long to cook the chicken is my own judgment, because the two recipes differ: one steams for 20 minutes, and the other poaches for 5 minutes and rests it for 15. The chicken must be cooked through before it goes into the brine, and it is not heated again after.
Ingredients
- Bone-in chicken legs 2 (about 500 g in all), rinsed
- Water, for cooking the chicken about 1 liter
- Ginger 3 slices
- Scallions 2
- Salt, for cooking the chicken 1 teaspoon (about 6 g)
- Shaoxing huadiao wine 360 ml (1.5 cups)
- Salt, for the brine 2 teaspoons (about 12 g)
- Sugar 1 teaspoon (about 4 g)
- Goji berries 1 tablespoon (about 8 g)
- Ice and cold water enough for an ice bath
Steps
- Put about 1 liter of water, the ginger, the scallions and 1 teaspoon of salt in a pot, add the legs, bring to a boil, then turn the heat low, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes. I cut into the meatiest part: it is done when nothing near the bone is red and the juices run clear.
- Lift the legs into ice water and leave them for about 10 minutes, until completely cool.
- Skim and strain the cooking liquid, boil it down to about 360 ml, and let it cool.
- Stir the cooled stock together with the wine, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and the goji berries, and taste it before using.
- Chop each leg through the bone into 3 or 4 pieces, put them in a clean container, and pour in the brine so that it covers the chicken.
- Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning the pieces once.
- Take the pieces out, put them on a plate with a spoonful of the brine, and serve cold.
Tips
- I let the stock cool completely before mixing it with the wine, and I never leave the chicken sitting warm. This is my own way.
- The chicken is not heated again once it is in the brine, so I make sure it is cooked through before it goes in. One recipe says to eat it within three days, and I do the same, keeping it in the refrigerator the whole time.
Allergens: wheat