Drunken Chicken in Shaoxing Wine of China 花雕醉鸡

Enjoying this cold dish always make me feel like I’m eating in a decent Shanghainese restaurants. I can’t properly explain why, perhaps because I believe this should be one of their signature(a signature item is typical of or associated with a particular person) dishes. Pale-looking though, I must say it does not give much hints about the taste.

Shaoxing wine is one of the most famous varieties of Chinese yellow wine fermented from rice. It originates from the region of Shaoxing, in the Zhejiang province adjacent to Shanghai. Yet, there are several types of Shaoxing wine. If you are looking one for preparing this recipe, I would recommend you to pick the Shaoxing Hua Diao which is said to be the best for making drunken chicken.

On the Chinese menu, therefore this dish is often referred as Hua Diao Wine Chicken(花雕醉鸡Huādiāo zuìjī).

It takes a few simple steps. Get the chicken cooked then cooled, prepare a sauce and put the two together are all the tasks in brief. An effortless step I should also mention is that the chicken being steeped in the sauce has to be stored in fridge for at least four to five hours, preferably overnight, before serving. Then, you will be promised with a meaty and refreshing chilled dish, be it served directly from a bottle or on a plate.

I believe there are quite a number of ways to get the chicken wings cooked. The one with me here requires some patience but is worth doing because it helps get rid of the frozen smells while having the chicken just cooked.

After the chicken wings are blanched in hot water and rest enough in it, I plunge them in ice water like making hand-pulled chicken. So doing, the chicken skin will remain tender but no ruptures; the meat will become firm but not rough.