Chinese Beggars Chicken Hyde Park Recipes

BEGGAR'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Rub the chicken inside and out with salt, half of the soy sauce and half of the wine. Set aside for at least one hour.
• Meanwhile, put the mushrooms in a small mixing bowl and add warm water to cover. Let stand half an hour or until the caps are softened. Drain and squeeze to extract and discard excess moisture. Cut off and discard the tough stems. Cut the caps into thin slivers and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the preserved vegetable into thin slivers. If it has been packed in a shredded state, shred it further. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok or skillet and add the pork. Cook, stirring rapidly, until it loses its raw look. Add the mushrooms, preserved vegetable and bamboo shoots. Add the remaining soy sauce, remaining wine, salt and sugar. Cook, stirring, one minute. Set aside to cool.
• Stuff the mixture inside the chicken.
• Fold the wing tips under the chicken. Truss the chicken as neatly as possible with string.
• Lay out a large rectangle of aluminum foil on a flat surface. Place the chicken in the center. Wrap the chicken as compactly as possible inside the foil.
• Gather together a large handful of the clay. Flatten this handful to a thickness of about one inch and apply it to one outside section of the foil-wrapped chicken. Place another flattened handful of clay slightly overlapping and press to seal the two pieces together. Continue applying handfuls of clay, pressing as you work, until the chicken is completely and compactly covered with clay. Smooth the clay over as you work. You may bake the chicken at this point or you may ''sculpt'' the product with additional pieces of clay, shaping it to resemble a whole bird with beak, feet, eyes, tail feathers and so on.
• Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. As the clay bakes, it may develop cracks. As these are noticed, seal the cracks by smearing on a little more clay.
• Continue baking the chicken for 30 minutes. If desired, you may then paint the clay with poster paint or watercolors.
• To serve, crack the clay, remove the chicken and peel away and discard the foil. Carve the chicken and serve with the preserved-vegetable stuffing.

BEGGAR'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Rub the chicken inside and out with a mixture of two tablespoons soy sauce, one tablespoon rice wine and one tablespoon sesame oil. Marinate at room temperature for one to two hours.
• Soak the lotus leaves in hot water for at least 30 minutes, or until they are flexible. Rinse the dried mushrooms, then soak them in two-thirds of a cup of hot water for 30 minutes, or until soft.
• If you are using a Schlemmertopf, soak the clay pot in cold water for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
• Prepare and assemble the remaining vegetables and shellfish.
• Heat a wok for one minute until very hot. Add the peanut oil. Add the fresh mushrooms and brown them quickly. Add the reconstituted mushrooms, duck potatoes, bamboo shoots, lotus seeds and bean sprouts, with salt, sugar and the remaining tablespoon of soy sauce and rice wine or sherry. Stir well for one minute, then add the scallops and shrimp, stir-fry for one minute only and remove contents of wok to a plate to cool.
• Stuff the chicken with the vegetable-shellfish mixture and sew the opening with kitchen thread. Wrap the chicken in layers of the soaked lotus leaves, place it in the clay pot and cover tighly. Bake the chicken at 250 degrees for about three hours.
• Remove the pot from the oven, remove lid and serve the chicken in its lotus wrappings in the pot. Remove the top lotus leaves at the table to release the aroma. Carve the chicken with a spoon and serve with the stuffing and pot juices.

CHINESE BEGGAR'S CHICKEN-HYDE PARK

Steps:

• Tie anise, peppercorns, smashed ginger , and broken up cinnamon sticks in cheesecloth. In a deep saucepan or small stock pot combine broth, carrots, scallions, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce and cheesecloth bag and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes then uncover and let it concentrate for awhile until somewhat reduced. Add sherry and whole chicken and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. (Or, you can make the infusion with 1 cup of water and let it reduce by 1/2) Strain the broth and add the minced ginger and chopped scallions for garnish. Cool and cut up the chicken and serve with some sauce over rice. You should have a lot of cooking liquid left over. SAVE IT and use it again (see above).