Poached chicken with ginger and spring onion

Ingredientsserves 4

Method

1. Clean the chicken, pull the fat from the cavity and dry it. Bring four litres of water to the boil in a large pot with the ginger slices, spring onion lengths, a tablespoon of salt and the wine; the pot must hold the bird with room to spare.
2. Hold the bird by the neck, lower it into the boiling water and lift it out, three times over, so the skin tightens and the inside and outside heat evenly.
3. Submerge it breast down, bring the water back to the boil, cover, and turn the heat to the lowest or off; steep twenty-five to thirty minutes for a 1.5 kg bird, turning once.
4. Test with a skewer at the thigh joint: the juices must run clear, and if not, steep five minutes more; the thickest part must reach 75 °C, and a probe thermometer settles it. A red tinge at the bone marrow is normal in a properly steeped bird, but the flesh must not be pink.
5. Lift the bird straight into a large bowl of iced water for ten minutes, which stops the cooking and sets the skin; use clean water and ice.
6. Dry it, rub the skin with the sesame oil and a pinch of salt, rest fifteen minutes, then chop through the bone into pieces and reassemble on the plate.
7. For the ginger dip, mix the grated ginger, chopped spring onion and a teaspoon of salt in a heatproof bowl, pour the smoking oil over, stir, add a dash of soy, and serve beside the chicken.

Take care

• The chicken must reach 75 °C at the thigh joint with the flesh opaque and the juices clear; a red tinge at the bone marrow is common in a properly steeped bird, but the flesh must not be pink. Use clean water and ice for the bath, and refrigerate the chicken if it is not eaten within two hours. The soy in the dip contains soy and wheat; sesame oil contains sesame.

The story

Poached chicken is the Cantonese test of a chicken and of a cook: no sauce, no colour, the bird steeped in water off the boil so the skin stays taut and the meat is just cooked, and the whole flavour left to the ginger dip; HK01's heritage feature calls it the dish that proves no chicken leaves Guangdong alive. In Hong Kong it is the chicken bought whole for the ancestral table and eaten after, and the family arguments are over the bird, the ice bath, and how pink is allowed at the bone.

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.