Tag: j. kenji lopez-alt

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chicken food red onion

general tso’s actifry chicken

general tso's chicken cooked in the tefal actifry

Isn’t it strange how two Western cultures can create their own version of the same imported cuisine? “Moo shu beef”, “egg rolls”, “crab rangoon”… What are these odd things? They’re found on menus of most Chinese takeaways (sorry,”takeout”) in America. Yet in the UK they’re completely alien. In my limited understanding, immigrants of different areas started these restaurants on different sides of the Atlantic and imported their food, Westernised: in the US, Hunan-influenced culture settled; in the UK Cantonese-style food dominated. General Tso’s chicken is one of these American staples, as I found out reading this recipe on Serious Eats. What is this? And why does it look so darn tasty?!

Copyright: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

I’ll read just about any article by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. They’re packed with excellent research, brilliant recipes and infectious enthusiasm. But the photo of this one drew me in. I knew straight away it was going to taste good, and I had to try it.

His comparison to chicken tikka masala is bang on – a dish that has become the representative dish of that cuisine, though natives have never heard of it!

Whatever the derivation, it’s crunchy chicken in a tangy-sweet sauce. It’s closest cousin on an English Chinese menu (if you follow my train of thought) is crispy chilli shredded beef.

I didn’t fancy breaking out the deep fat fryer so adapted the recipe for the Actifry. The fridge-drying phase is important – if you leave the chicken damp from batter it will slide straight off in the Actifry. The drying out allows the coating to properly adhere to the meat. It turned out brilliantly. The chicken was crisp yet juicy, the sauce was sticky, sharp and tangy, the whole thing comes together perfectly.

I think I’m going to go pester my local Chinese to add this to the menu.

Based on a recipe by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats, tweaked and abused for my tastebuds

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general tso’s actifry chicken

Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • For the marinade:
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 tablespoons cornflour
  • 450 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into finger-sized pieces
  • For the dry coating:
  • 100 g flour
  • 100 g cornflour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • For the sauce:
  • 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable stock powder
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 inch ginger grated
  • 2 red onions peeled and sliced

Instructions

  • For the marinade: whisk egg white lightly in a large bowl, then whisk in the soy and Mirin. Set aside half of marinade for the dry coat. Add the soda and cornflour to one half of it and whisk to combine. Add chicken to large bowl and stir to coat thoroughly.
  • For the dry coat: whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Add the reserved marinade and whisk until mixture has looks like breadcrumbs. Press the chicken into this mixture and shake off the excess. Place on a rack over a tray and place in the fridge for an hour.
  • Turn the Actifry on for 2 minutes to heat up. Add a tablespoon of oil and heat for a further minute. Add the chicken and cook for five minutes, then go in with some tongs to help separate some of the chicken pieces that may have stuck together. Cook for a further 25 - 30 minutes, until crisp and at least 68C on the inside.
  • Five minutes before the chicken is ready, fry the garlic, ginger, and onions in a frying pan over a medium heat. Combine soy sauce, wine, vinegar, stock, sugar, sesame seed oil, and cornflour in a small bowl and stir with a fork until dissolved and no lumps remain. Stir the sauce into the onions etc until it boils and thickens. Add the chicken and fold with a rubber spatula until all pieces are thoroughly coated. Serve with rice and mixed vegetables.
Categories
mustard onion rosemary stock worcestershire sauce

perfect onion gravy

I was asked to devise the ‘perfect onion gravy recipe’ and that’s a challenge I don’t take lightly.

So what should it be? For me rich and nourishing, with sweet and complex flavours. The onions are obviously key, but the stock makes a massive impact. Above all the gravy should positively drip umami. Lots of full, rounded savouriness.

I used a couple of resources to nail the perfect solution. I had to look at how the star of the dish, the onion, was treated. First, which onions? You can get good gravy out of red onions but not for the longish cooking time that I was after. No, it has to be the medium British brown onion. Perfectly round with appealing ivory skin, with a balanced sweet/sharp flavour, it has to be British onions, supporting British farmers. As for the cooking, I stumbled over this fascinating article at Serious Eats which really picked apart caramelizing onions. I gave it a try and I definitely had to incorporate elements of it in the final dish. It allows for delicious, sweet onions with perfect colouring.

I looked to my old pal Heston Blumenthal and his chicken gravy technique, involving roasting off a chicken carcass, separately frying off mushrooms and onions and combining in a pressure cooker with white wine. Personally I wanted a beefier, herbier background so that gave me ideas to use beef bones in the stock. This provides the structure of the dish. Chat up your butcher for some beef bones – if you can’t I find may supermarkets with an instore butcher will sell them for a nominal fee, 20p or so. You don’t need to make the stock yourself necessarily (it’s a bit of a time-hog) but if you have the time it’s amazing.

There’s also an alcoholic backnote I wanted to include: red wine is fairly typical, as is a stout, or my old chum marsala. But I recalled a great onion soup recipe from Giorgio Locatelli where cider was included And it’s perfect because it’s tangy and boozy with fruity hints. It’s the final element that crowns the gravy.

It’s rich, it’s sweet, it’s irresistible. I served mine with a steak and it sure didn’t last long.

Perfect onion gravy (makes about 1 ½ pints):

For the stock:

4 or 5 beef bones

Tablespoon of tomato puree

4 or 5 chestnut mushrooms

1 stick of celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

3 onions, halved

Sprig each of thyme and rosemary

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Put the veg in a heavy baking tray and lay the bones on top. Smear the bones all over with tomato puree, then tuck the herbs round and about. Roast the lot in the oven for 30 minutes to give a rich intensity to the stock.
  2. Transfer the lot to a deep pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours with a loose fitting lid. Remove the lid and boil hard for half an hour to reduce it down. Transfer to a large bowl or jug and chill until needed.

For the gravy:

1 teaspoon sugar

3 British onions, halved and sliced into half-moons (I recommend using a food processor with medium slicing attachment for uniformity)

1 tablespoon butter

1 star anise

¼ teaspoon baking powder (rarely for me, I advise you to be careful with this measurement as if you overdo this it will be bitter and chemical-tasting)

1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped

300ml Aspall’s organic cider

1 teaspoon English mustard

1 tablespoon flour

Beef stock as above (or 1 ½ pints of your favourite organic beef stock)

  1. In a wide frying pan heat the sugar over a gentle heat until it turns to liquid, and quickly before it burns add the onions, baking powder and butter. Turn the heat up to medium and stir well to coat the onions in sugar and butter. After a minute add the star anise and rosemary. Cook for a further 8 minutes or so until the onions start to turn a lovely shade of brown. Keep stirring to ensure they don’t burn.
  2. Start to deglaze the sticky stuff from the pan with the cider a splash at a time. Don’t add too much as it will reduce the heat in the pan each time. Once the liquid goes add the next splash until it’s all gone. The onions will now be glazed with a gorgeous appley shine.
  3. Add the mustard and flour and stir well to incorporate for a minute. Once all the white bits of flour have gone add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for at least another 5 minutes and then reduce until it is the desired consistency, then check the seasoning. Salt and pepper here are crucial, and perhaps a splash of red wine vinegar to balance the tartness. Remove the star anise before serving.
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