We like Chinese food at my house. Its variety and melding of flavors with fresh ingredients is a welcome change from our usual meat and potatoes. And it’s fast, perfect for those weekday nights when everybody is late and famished.
One thing that has stymied me is the chicken. It’s smooth, fluffy and incredibly tender at our favorite Chinese restaurants. Its flavor is so pronounced, it overcomes the sharp or sweet sauces of the dish. Then I discovered I was missing an important step, an ancient trick rooted in the nature of Chinese chickens.
Velvetize Them
Until recently, chickens over there were free-ranging around rural houses, eating whatever they find and getting a lot of exercise. That made their meat a lot tougher than it is under our controlled conditions here.
The way around this stringy, leathery fowl is a technique called velveting which does exactly what that word implies. It’s a marinade unlike any other that combines with rapid precooking to produce exceptionally tender meat.
In many ways, it coaxes the best from the bird, even with our boneless, skinless breasts.
Velveting’s other plus is you can do it ahead, ready for a last-minute plunge into your stir-fry.
The Drill
Start by cutting breast meat into the shape required by your recipe (diced, cubed, etc.). Gently stir an egg white in a bowl large enough for the meat.
This is critical: Stir only enough to break its gel-like texture. Do not whip to a froth. (Use the yolk for your egg-drop soup).
Add a tablespoon of peanut oil and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir until all combine. Then dump in the chicken, stir to coat and refrigerate for at least a half-hour.
The egg acts as a tenderizer, breaking down the fibrous texture of the chicken. It also will bind the cornstarch to the meat, a coating that seals in juices.
Now comes the velveting part, the precooking. You have two choices, hot oil or boiling water. Choose one and get it going in your wok.
Gently slide in the chicken, stirring with chopsticks or a wooden spoon. The coating will not stick to wood. Keep it moving for 30 to 45 seconds until the meat turns a bright white. Then quickly remove with a hand strainer.
It’s now ready for the final stir-fry.
You can do the above an hour ahead, but do not refrigerate. That will toughen the coating.
This is an amazing improvement over stir-frying raw meat. Try it once, and you will never go back.
Canton Repository
author: Jim Hillibish