FAO Deck - Chinese Crispy Chicken...How ?

[Iain]

Deck, how do you make chicken have that crispy coating you get in some asian dishes ? I assume you coat it in something and then fry it quickly once it's cooked. I'm too lazy to google and besides you'll give a better answer

[Allen]

I know I'm not Deckard, but I believe it's something to do with leaving the skin on, and cooking it very fast at high temps to get it crispy. Also, honey might sometimes be used. Dunno if it helps though...

[Nick]

If its sliced breast meat you're talking about, its simply rolled in a mix of spices and cornflour, then fried in deepish oil.

For the coating you get on 'Hong Kong' style dishes (normally sweet and sour ones) the pieces are sipped in batter and then deep fried.

Oooooor... you could do the chicken the same way as a recipe that will be uploaded to the cookbook in about three minutes time... Its a crispy duck with pancakes recipe, rather apt for today!

[Iain]

ah, batter. Being of Scottish origin I tend to deep fry everything and eat it out of a newspaper anyway so that sounds easy

thanks

[Proplus]

There's 2 types of Chinese batters: wet and dry.

Wet is what you guys will recognise from fish and chip chops, where the batter comes out a little puff and soaking with oil.

Dry is done by coating the meat with some whisked egg, and then piling on plain flour, and it should cling to the meat like dust. This is what you get when you eat Hong Kong style sweet and sours.

To get the best flavour out of it, its best to marinade the meat first before dry battering it.