道口烧鸡 Dàokǒu Shāojī

Daokou Roast Chicken

A treasure-shaped chicken simmered in a century-old master broth with eight spices, so tender the meat falls off the bone.

4 hours (excluding broth ageing) · 4 to 6 · Hard · Rich, savory and mellow

Ingredients

• Young free-range chicken 1 (about 1.5-2 kg, six months to two years old)
• Maltose 40g (traditionally used for colouring)
• Honey 30g (may replace or blend with the maltose)
• Water 120ml (for the glaze, roughly 4 water to 6 syrup)
• Eight-spice sachet: dried tangerine peel, cassia bark, cardamom, galangal, clove, amomum, tsaoko and angelica, 3-5g each
• Master broth 2000ml (aged stock; plain stock works but loses depth)
• Salt 12g
• Light soy sauce 40ml
• Dark soy sauce 10ml
• Scallion 50g
• Ginger 30g
• Cooking wine 30ml
• Cooking oil 1500ml (about 150ml used, for frying)
• 2 thin sorghum stalks or bamboo splints (for shaping)
• 1 toothpick

Steps

1. Choose and dress the bird: a six-month to two-year-old local chicken weighing 1.5-2 kg, rested before slaughter, scalded in water at 60-65 degrees, opened under the wing, rinsed and dried.
2. Shape it: break the ribs, flatten the breast, prop the cavity open with a sorghum stalk, cross the wings over the beak, tuck the legs into small holes below, forming a plump two-pointed ingot shape, and dry the skin.
3. Colour the skin: mix maltose or honey with water at a 4 to 6 ratio, brush the whole bird, let it dry, then brush a second time for an even thin coat.
4. Fry for colour: bring the oil to 150-160 degrees, lift the chicken by the head and ladle hot oil over it for 30-60 seconds until the skin turns persimmon-red and translucent, then drain at once without letting it scorch.
5. Braise: bring the master broth to a rolling boil, add the tied spice sachet with scallion, ginger, salt and sugar, arrange the chicken and weight it down with splints so the broth covers more than half of it, then drop to a bare simmer.
6. Simmer gently: 2.5 to 3 hours for a young bird, 3.5 to 4 hours for an older one; the fire must never be fierce or the meat will fall apart and the aroma will not penetrate.
7. Rest in the residual heat: turn off the heat without lifting the lid and let it soak for about 4 more hours, driving the spice fragrance deep into the bone.
8. Lift out: drain off the broth. The skin glows red and glossy, the bone and meat separate with the lightest touch of chopsticks, the fatty parts melt without greasiness and the lean parts stay juicy.

← 返回豫菜（河南菜）（12 道） · 中国菜系总览（18 个菜系）