Recipe of the week: Sake-steamed chicken with ginger and scallions
The skin won’t be crispy, but the breast meat will be "as soft as custard,” said Melissa Clark in The New York Times.
Steamed chicken sounds like a “bland diet food,” but throw in some sake and you’ll have a tender, aromatic bird that even sounds exotic, said Melissa Clark in The New York Times. A cheap sake like junmai will do, and the result is the “easiest chicken” ever. The skin won’t be crispy, but with “breast meat as soft as custard” and drumsticks that almost melt in the mouth, it won’t matter.
Sake-steamed chicken with ginger and scallions
One 3½-pound chicken, rinsed and patted dry
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
1½ cups dry sake
kosher salt
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp orange juice
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
2 tsp rice vinegar
1½ tsp lemon juice
1½ tsp mirin or sweet sherry
1 tbsp chopped ginger root
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 thinly sliced scallions
2 tbsp sesame seeds, preferably black
Place a steamer basket in bottom of a large stockpot. Pour in equal amounts of sake and water, enough to reach bottom of steamer basket. Bring to boil.
Generously salt chicken inside and out; set breast side up in steamer basket. Reduce heat to low and cover. Steam chicken until juices run clear when pierced with a knife, about 1 to 1½ hours. Turn off heat. Cool for about 20 minutes.
To prepare sauce, in small bowl whisk together soy sauce, orange juice, rice vinegar, lemon juice, mirin, ginger, and garlic. Remove chicken from pot and place on large cutting board; carve and set pieces on a platter. Spoon some sauce over meat and sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds. Serves four.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published