Chinese Tea Smoked Chicken, for Chinese New Year

[pepperhead212]

I will be two days late with my Chinese New Year dinner - Spring festival ends on Friday, 2-15, but we will have this on Sunday (friends had an emergency last weekend, plus, I didn't have the chicken!).

I finally found whole chicken that did not say something like "possibly 6% added water"! >:D This has gotten way too common in chicken, turkey, and pork; haven't seen it in beef yet, but it will happen, I'm sure.

The recipe calls for about a 4 lb chicken, cleaned and patted dry, 1/4 c kosher salt, a 1 1/2" piece of ginger, cut into julienne, 2 tb Szechwan peppercorns, 4 scallions, smashed, and cut into 2" pieces, 1 tb sugar, and 1 tb rice wine, mixed up, and spread over the chicken, inside and out. The original recipe calls for setting the bowl at room temp for 3 days (!), but I decided to put it in the fridge. I'm sure it is still done that way, in areas without refrigeration!
Ingredients for salting chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Salted chicken by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Now I wait for 3 days, spreading the dry marinade around a few times. The chicken gets steamed, then dried - traditionally hung a few hours, but I'll put it in front of a fan, which I'll have to dig out! I'll post the rest later.

[applestar]

Here’s an odd question — have you ever tested to see if your szechuan peppercorns are viable as seeds? I believe depending on species, they are hardy to zone 6.... Not exactly the same as Japanese Sansho, but related species and I have heard that the flavor s are similar.

[pepperhead212]

Never tried that, Apple - let me know if you try it! However, the seeds may be irradiated - years ago, if you'll recall, the import of this spice was stopped, due to a disease (I think citrus?) coming in on the seeds, and maybe this is how it is brought in now.

[pepperhead212]

Apple, I went to the Asian Market on 38 today, and bought some Szechwan peppercorns (among a LOT of other things! lol), and I thought of your post. What made me think of it is something that I do without thinking - I check to make sure not many of those black seeds are in the pack, because the hull, or husk, is where the flavor is in these, not that black seed. The best ones have removed all but a few of them. The first batch I got when they were "legalized" again, had almost every seed in them, and I just about doubled the amount in recipes, to get the flavor.

I'll see if any sprout in a spoon, and let you know about my results.

[applestar]

Oooh! I’ll be looking forward to your report.

[digitS']

And, I will be looking forward to learning about your smoking technique.

I bought a stove-top smoker several years ago anticipating its use for smoked peppers. And, after watching Ming Tsai using one for salmon. I still haven't tried it!

One thing, I do not want to fill the house with smoke!

Steve

[pepperhead212]

You do need a good, externally vented range hood to smoke indoors! That said, it really doesn't take long to smoke something this way - only 10-15 min. And as long as I get rid of the foil pack in the bottom of the wok, the smell is only like a fireplace was burning, and is gone in a day or so.

I discovered another method of smoking in a wok, used by the Indians. After chicken, or other food is cooked, it is placed in the wok on a rack, and a can with a few tb of melted ghee in the center. A small piece of charcoal, or a chunk of metal (my method) is heated until glowing hot, then dropped in the ghee with some tongs, then the cover is quickly put on. The burning butter gives the food a totally different, smoky taste to foods.

[digitS']

Wow, you will be smoking in a wok, Dave!

There is a ceiling exhaust fan but no range hood in my little olde house. As best as I can understand, this house had a wood cookstove in the kitchen, at one time. (It also had a trapdoor through the dining room floor to a cellar, now part of the basement. And, it had a pantry, now a bathroom .)

The "Max Burton Stove Top Smoker" is what I bought to use. Ten to 15 minutes!? Maybe I can get away with that and shouldn't be concerned.

Steve

[pepperhead212]

Came out great! Here are the rest of the photos. I really didn't get much smoke - I left it on for 15 minutes, and the smoke permeated to the thickest breast meat, and something about the salting keeps it all moist, like brining.

You can see how the wok is lined with foil, then the lid has some foil around the edge, and when these are pressed against each other, it forms a good seal for the smoke, even if the lid is slightly off.

I sort of remember now why I don't do this more often. But it is worth it!

I think that a lot of this liquid in the pie plate is condensation, with the steam hitting the cold chicken, in the beginning, as the chicken was not the least bit dry.
Steamed chicken, with 2 c liquid in pie plate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken dried, ready for smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The smoking mix is 1/4 c brown sugar, 1/4 c black tea leaves, 1/4 c white rice, 3 cinnamon sticks, broken up, 3 tb Szechwan peppercorns, 6 star anise, broken up, and 1 tb salt.
Wok prepared for smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Lid on wok, sealed with some foil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tea smoked chicken, after 5 minutes smoking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished tea smoked chicken. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

Oh WOW. That looks amazing! Droool

[imafan26]

Looks yummy.
I always look forward to Jai and nian gao around the Lunar New Year.
Jai is not always made year long because it is time consuming.
Gao is very rich, I can only eat a sliver of it, but it is worth it.

[pepperhead212]

Apple, Believe it or not, I still had those seeds of the Szechwan peppercorns in the spoon! After 6 weeks, no sprouting, but also no fungus. Most seeds would have been totally encased in fungus, so there must be a natural fungicide in those seeds.

Maybe Trade Winds has seeds for these. I'll have to check them out.

[pepperhead212]

I knew that if anyplace had this, they would!
https://www.tradewindsfruit.com/zanthoxy ... pper-seeds

And it is supposedly hardy to zone 5.

I wonder what green peppercorns would be like with these?

[applestar]

Thanks for the update and link @pepperhead!

[mavee125]

This recipe looks so delicious! Will definitely try cooking this Chinese Tea Smoked Chicken recipe this weekend. Just completing the ingredients I ordered.

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum!

BTW, there is another, even easier, smoking method I came across, that is used in Indian cooking - you take a small metal cup, melt some ghee in it (about 1/4" or so), and set it in the pot, either on top of the food, or next to it, with chicken or meat. Then heat up a small piece of charcoal that will fit in the cup, or what I do - a piece of metal - over open flame, or with a propane torch, until glowing hot, then drop it into the ghee, and quickly cover the pot. In 5-10 minutes, the food will be smoked! Other oil can be used, as well. Think of the smell of fat hitting the coals in a BBQ - that's the aroma you are getting!