Northern Chinese don't roast chickens... or do they?

Roasted meats are rarely found in Chinese homes mainly because ovens have traditionally been reserved for restaurants. Be that as it may, they do exist, and sometimes they exude a startling originality. 

I immediately think of Cantonese cooking whenever roasted Chinese things are mentioned, but once in a while there are surprises along the way, as today's dish from Shandong in northern China: this is one of the “three roasted dishes of Qingdao,” the other two featuring fish and meaty pork ribs.

It was created by the local famed chef Pan Xiaoliang in the early years of the last century. His original recipe called for a young rooster to be marinated in salt, rice wine, and soy sauce before being quickly fried in very hot oil. The bird was then roasted with such things as green onions, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns and then served in its juices. You can see how Shanghai finagled its way into this dish from Shandong’s coastal area, the green onion oil giving away its secrets with an almost giddy glee.

A more modern interpretation eliminates the frying, and as you’ll see, that dip in the oil is truly unnecessary because the skin crisps up beautifully in the oven while the meat stays moist and flavorful. A nest of lettuce leaves protects the chicken from drying out, and it also cooks down into a wonderful accompaniment after an hour in a very hot oven.

Spatchcocked & ready to go

That very hot oven is one of the secrets here. Start your oven as soon as you begin working on this dish, as it needs to get as hot as possible, usually 550°F on most American ovens. The super-hot air seals the juices in by shrinking and crisping the skin, and then a merely very hot oven (425°F) finishes the job.

You’ll notice that the chicken is split up the back and laid flat on top of the lettuce. This cuts way down on the cooking time since there’s no cool cavity to deal with. This is called spatchcocking or butterflying a chicken. You can, if you like, completely remove the backbone, but I’m a sucker for both the back and the tail, so I leave it in and just cut down one side of the spine.

Master this recipe – both the hot, hot oven and the spatchcocking – and you’ll soon be making variations on it in no time.

Crispy chicken roasted on lettuce 
Kǎo xiǎochújī 烤小雛雞 
Shandong

Serves 4 to 6 as an entree 

Fried green onions add flavor

½ cup Green Onion Oil, with some of the crispy green onions

1 whole fryer (about 3½ pounds)

Spray oil

1 small head or half a large head of romaine lettuce

8 thin slices fresh ginger, lightly mashed with the back of a cleaver

¼ cup Shaoxing rice wine

1 teaspoon ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns

¼ cup filtered water

¼ cup regular soy sauce

1. If you don’t have Green Onion Oil on hand, fry the onions in oil as directed in that recipe while you are working on the chicken. Place a rack in the lower third of your oven and heat it to 550°.

2. Rinse the chicken, pat it dry, and pull out any pinfeathers you see. Place the chicken on its breast and use a sharp cleaver to cut down one side of the spine to split it open. (If you want, you can cut out the spine and save it for stock.) Clean out the inside of the chicken and remove any extra fat. Turn the chicken over and tuck the wings underneath themselves.

Smashed ginger slices

3. Spray a 10- to 12-inch wide ovenproof dish with oil. Rinse the lettuce, shake the leaves dry, and lay them whole on the bottom of the dish, breaking a few as necessary so that the entire bottom of the dish is covered. Scatter the ginger over the lettuce. Place the chicken in the dish skin-side down and rub it with some of the rice wine and Sichuan peppercorns. Flip it over and lightly rub the rest of the rice wine and Sichuan peppercorns into the skin. Pour the water and  green onion oil into the dish from the side so that they don’t wash off the peppercorns. Then, pour the soy sauce all over the chicken, trying to hit as much of the skin as possible; the onions will turn black if left on top of the chicken (which is quite beautiful, so there is a trade off), so nudge them into crevasses, if possible. Place the dish on a baking sheet and place the chicken in the oven.

4. Lower the heat (without opening the door) to 425°F and continue to roast the bird for another 40 to 50 minutes, or until the skin is browned and crispy and the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced deeply with a knife. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Cut up the chicken as desired and serve it with the roasted lettuce and the juices. All that is needed is hot steamed rice or steamed buns. 

Raw radish threads with scallion oil

Sometimes when I try a new recipe or dish, I am surprised. 

More times than I like to remember, it's because it tastes truly awful, and other times the recipe needs serious tweaking before it is good enough to make again. 

Occasionally, though, the dish turns out to be so spectacular first time around that I'm flummoxed, because just looking at the ingredients gives no clue as to what is in store. 

This is one such dish. It caught my eye when I was rearranging up my cookbook shelves. An old 70's paperback by Huang Shaomo (writing under the pseudonym Yunlinyisou) called Zhongguo mingcai caozuofa (How to make famous Chinese dishes) listed this as its first recipe. 

Radish & my trusty grater

I had never heard of it before, but it looked oddly intriguing, and the fact that Mr. Huang started out his book with it lent it a certain importance. After making it, I discovered why: it's brilliant.

This simple appetizer or side dish manages to contain the essence of Jiangsu province's home-style cooking, where the humblest ingredients are polished to a delectable shine and then enjoyed without artifice or excessive foofing up.

In Chinese this dish is called Radish Threads with Scallion Oil, a deceptively nondescript name, but it really is little more than shredded raw radish topped with green onions and hot oil. The original recipe calls for the football-shaped Chinese radish, but you can use Chinese icicle radish or even colored radishes, for that matter.

Shredded radish

I know that I go on and on about balance and yin and yang and all of that, but it's a truth about Chinese cuisine than just cannot be denied, because (to my mind, at least) that is where the genius of her greatest dishes lies.

Here we have bits of green contrasting with snowy white, soft against crisp, cooked along with raw, salty rubbing up against a pile of sweetness. It's a stunning study in using the minimum number of common ingredients to create the maximum amount of impact.

Right now before spring heats up is the time to enjoy the last of the cold weather vegetables. Chinese radishes are still at their peak, but before long they'll start getting dry and woody, so think about trying out this recipe while you can. 

A happy surprise

It's best started at least a couple of hours before you want to serve it so that the radish threads have a chance to chill, and then you can enjoy it alongside anything rich and savory, like Smoked Chicken or Soy Braised Yellowtail Collar. Your taste buds will thank you.


Raw radish threads with scallion oil 
Congyou bailuobosi 蔥油白蘿蔔絲  
Jiangsu
Serves 4 to 6 generously as a side dish or appetizer

1 fresh, white Chinese radish (2 pounds or so)
2 teaspoons sea salt
3 green onions, trimmed
4 tablespoons fresh peanut or vegetable oil

Pour on the hot oil

1. Peel the radish and trim off the root end; if you are grating it by hand, leave on the stem end so that it can act as a handle, but otherwise discard it.

2. Grate the radish either by hand or with a food processor. I personally prefer the long threads that are made with a Chinese grater, but this certainly isn't a deal breaker.

3. Place the grated radish in a colander set in the sink or on a large plate. Toss the radish threads with the salt and let the moisture from the radish drip out over an hour or two.

4. Gently squeeze clumps of the radish threads between your hands to remove the remaining water, and place the squeezed radish in a medium work bowl; refrigerate the threads for at least an hour or two so that they become completely chilled.

Quickly cooked onions

5. Slice the green onions as thinly as you can and place in a heatproof bowl. Heat the oil in a small saucepan or wok until it just barely starts to smoke, and then immediately pour it over the green onions. Use chopsticks to move the onions around in the hot oil so that they cook evenly, and then let the onions and oil come to room temperature.

6. Up to an hour before serving, thoroughly toss the radish threads with the onions and oil; taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Tip

See this post for advice on selecting juicy, fresh Chinese radishes.

Fried scallion noodles

Don't let the simplicity of this recipe fool you. This is seriously delicious and is so good that the first time I made it, my husband requested it for three days in a row. I find it amazing that something so wonderful can be so easy, and yet it is. In fact, you might find after you taste it that this will be the kind of dish you too will make all the time.

Traditionally, this Shanghainese noodle dish is made with egg noodles and either vegetable or peanut oil. But after a bit of experimentation on family and friends (and myself, of course), I've found that buckwheat noodles (or soba) and olive oil turn a simple bowl of noodles into the food of the gods. Besides, all that buckwheat and olive oil is good for you, and that has to count for something.

The fried onions and oil can be made ahead of time, and I recommend making extra because both are fantastic on just about anything savory. They're great with eggs, sprinkled over poached chicken, steamed fish, or fried eggs, and bread sopped in this heavenly oil and sprinkled with a bit of fleur de sel has been known to make people moan with delight.

The recipe multiplies easily and is great for a party. Any leftovers probably could be stored in the refrigerator, but I've never gotten around to having leftovers, so I really couldn't say for sure. 


Fried green onion noodles 
Congyou mian  蔥油麵 
Shanghai
Serves 4 to 6 generously as a side dish

Fried onions:
12 green onions
1½ cups oil (olive, vegetable, or peanut)

Sauce:
¼ cup light soy sauce, plus more if needed¾ cup salted stock, plus more if needed

Noodles:
12 ounces dry noodles (buckwheat noodles recommended)4 quarts filtered water
3 tablespoons sea salt

1. Clean and trim the green onions, pat them dry (this is important since you don't want them to spatter in the oil), and then slice them into either thin rounds or on the angle into long thin ovals.

2. Line a plate with a paper towel and place it next to the stove along with a slotted spoon. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When it just begins to shimmer, add a few pieces of the onion to the oil. What you want is for the onions to gently bubble, so adjust the heat as needed and add the rest of the onions to the oil. Stir the onions every minute or so and let them slowly cook, giving them a chance to release their fragrance and gradually dry out. Keep an eye on the onions, and as soon as they start to smell toasty and a few begin to brown, stir them almost constantly so that they brown evenly. 

3. Once almost all of them are a light brown, remove them from the oil with the slotted spoon and place them on the paper towel. Set the wok with the hot oil aside if you're going to use it immediately; otherwise, let it cool and pour it into a clean glass jar before storing it in a cool area.

4. Pour the soy sauce and stock into a large work bowl and stir in the flavored oil.

5. Pour the water into a large pot and add the salt; bring the water to a boil. About 10 minutes before you want to serve these noodles, stir the noodles into the water and gently swish them once in a while so that they don't stick together. As soon as the water starts to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook the noodles until they are barely done. Place a colander in the sink and drain the noodles into it, but don't rinse the noodles, as the starch on the noodles will help to thicken the sauce and allow it to evenly coat each strand.

6. Put the cooked noodles into the work bowl with the sauce and toss them well. You want the noodles slightly soupy since they'll absorb some of the sauce, so add more stock if needed. Taste the noodles and add a bit more soy sauce if you want.

7. Divide the noodles and sauce into your serving bowls, garnish with all of the fried onions, and serve these glorious noodles to a rapturous welcome.


Green onion oil 
Congyou  蔥油 
Shanghai
Makes 1½ cups

Follow the directions for frying the onions. Cool the onions in the oil, drain out the delicious onions, and store the in a cool, dry place for up to a couple of weeks. Pour the oil into a squeeze bottle and keep it next to your stove for easy access.  If you keep the oil longer than a few weeks, taste it before using to make sure that it's still nice and fresh.