Peking Style Smoked Chicken
Why I Love This Recipe
This is my mother's recipe and one of my favorite poultry dishes. I recall watching my grandmother making this dish with my mom and how skillfully they can toss just the right amount of spices onto the chicken without measuring. And the chicken always turned out perfect every time! I know the chicken is almost done when I can smell the wonderful aroma of the tea leaf smoking. This smokey flavor really comes through when the chicken is served chilled.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 chicken (about 2 1/2 lbs)
2 T Brown Peppercorn
1 1/2T Salt
1 Green onion
3 slices Ginger
2 Star anise(Asian grocery)
1 pc. Cinnamon stick
1 C Soysauce
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Black tea leaves
1 T Sesame oil
Directions
Rub chicken inside and out with peppercorn and salt. Put back in refrigerator and let it stand for at least 5 hours.
Boil 8C water in a large pot. Add green onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and soysauce. Let it cook for 10 minutes. Add the chicken and continue to cook for 15 more minutes over medium heat(turn over once). Remove and let it cool.
Place sugar, flour and tea leaves in a heavy iron pan. Add a rack over this mixture and place the chicken on its side on the rack. Cover and smoke about 8 minutes over low heat. Turn the chicken and smoke again for approximately 8 more minutes or until chicken turns brown.
Remove chicken from pan and brush with sesame oil.
If you don't have a smoker, you can also put the flour, sugar, tealeaf mixture on the bottom rack of the oven and place the chicken on the top rack and turn the oven to 250°(same time).