Salt-baked Chicken

Poultry

Salt-baked Chicken
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, fresh killed preferred, its cavity cleaned of any soft tissue
8 to 10 pounds coarse salt
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine or clear liquor
3 Tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled
4 scallions, each one knotted, their ends removed
1 whole star anise
2 whole cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 two-inch pieces dried tangerine peel
Large piece of cheesecloth, one to two yards long
some sprigs of fresh coriander
2 Tablespoons thin soy sauce
2 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
1/2 scallion, minced
2 slices fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Preparation:
1. Rinse and dry the chicken; and pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put salt in a deep dry oven-proof pot larger than the chicken, but not much larger, and heat for about twenty minutes to half an hour on top of the stove.
3. Put ginger, scallions, garlic, tangerine peel into the cavity of the chicken. Then wrap the chicken in the cheesecloth so that there are three or four layers of it around all parts of the chicken. Can be tied with string, if preferred, but it is not necessary.
4. Make a large well in the salt, and bury the chicken completely. Then put in the oven and cook it for one hour.
5. Remove the chicken from the oven, and carefully put it in the sink, preferably in a very large bowl. Under hot running water, remove the cheesecloth and any salt that adheres to the chicken. Then put it on a chopping board, and chop into two-inch pieces, put them on a platter, and serve with a dipping sauce mixing the two soy sauces, half scallion and minced ginger.

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