Featured
Soul Warming Recipes!
Big Green Egg
Featured
Hot & Spicy!
K’s Choice
Peppery Chicken Curry
Fonq
FM
Velveting Chicken
For years I wondered how Chinese restaurants manage to keep their chicken so moist and tender. But now I wonder no more.
There was little I could find on Dutch forums or websites, so I’m pretty sure I’ll make a Dutchie (or two) happy today. Also, I promised Sylvia Witteman I’d spread the word and fear her wrath if I don’t.
If you want to start cooking your own Chinese food at home because of the high restaurant prices, or simply because you like Chinese food but not the boatload of MSG they often add to it, this is where you kickoff.
The technique is called Velveting. It’s simply marinating the chicken before lightly poaching it. You can poach them in two ways: water or oil. The recipe I’m using is a basic white velvet marinade and once you got this down—and it’s crazy simple—the sky is the limit.
I’ll start with the water technique because it allows you to store the chicken in the fridge for some time after velveting it. With the oil technique you have to use the chicken straight away.
Ingredients:
1 pound boneless chicken breast
1 large egg-white
1 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 a tsp regular salt)
1 tbsp cornstarch
8 cups of water
1 tbsp peanut oil
Directions:
Start by thinly slicing your chicken.
Grab a big bowl and separate the egg. We only use the egg-white.
Add the rice vinegar, salt and cornstarch to it and whisk until you end up with a silky marinade.
Add your chicken.
Stir well and make sure all pieces are coated.
Cover the bowl with cling film and store it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Fast forward to a few hours later. Remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for a bit.
If you only sliced one or two chicken breasts and there’s more marinade, drain it in a colander first. Mine just coated the chicken.
I used a wok but you can also do this in a skillet or regular pan. Combine the oil with the water and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Once the water boils, lower the heat to medium so you only have a slight simmer going. Add your chicken, stir to separate the pieces and cook until they just turn white. This will take under a minute so do not leave your stove.
Remove them from the water and drain well. The chicken will still be slightly raw in the centre now.
Now it’s ready to be added to the last stages of your stir-fry or curry sauce (terrible photos, great sauce!).
Who knew it would be this simple?
Now fess up. Which one of you knew about this and didn’t tell me!
| Velveting Chicken | |||||||||
| Ingredients |
1 large egg-white 1 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar 1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 a tsp regular salt) 1 tbsp cornstarch 8 cups of water 1 tbsp peanut oil Directions |
|
Add your chicken, make sure all pieces are coated, cover with cling film and store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Once ready to use it you remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for a bit. f you only sliced one or two chicken breasts and there’s more marinade, drain it in a colander first. Mine just coated the chicken. I used a wok but you can also do this in a skillet or regular pan. Combine the oil with the water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water boils, lower the heat to medium so you only have a slight simmer going. Add your chicken, stir to separate the pieces and cook until they just turn white. This will take under a minute so don’t leave the stove. Remove them from the water and drain well. The chicken will still be slightly raw in the centre now. Now your chicken ready to be added to the last stages of your stir-fry or curry sauce. Meal type: |
Marinade, Poaching, Poultry, Chinese
|
Servings: |
4 |
Copyright: |
© kayotickitchen.com |
|
28 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
I’ve never heard of this! This is really great to know. I can’t wait to try this out with a stir-fry. Thanks, Kay!
I had no idea either. Tried it immediately and it was all I needed to get the exact same structure and flavour as the chicken at my favourite Chinese restaurant.
I confess! Been using this like forever on asian stirfry dishes :)
Another quick and dirty method (especially with some beef types) “marinade” your meat in baking soda for about 30 min, then rinse and marinade with your favorite stuff. Stir fry and enjoy tender meat !
I need to have a word with you! :)
wow! I’m going to try this really soon! Love chicken, so thank you Sylvia for making Kay post this recipe ;-)
I never knew!! This is amazing.
I knew ;-))
Tsssssskk :)
What a great tip–I am saving this!
I’ve never even heard of this! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never heard of this but I find it really neat!
You see Kay that’s why I fell in love with you all those years ago.
You do ALL the heavy lifting and find out crazy neat stuff like this
which of course I take credit for at my table when asked.. ‘Hey Adman
your chick is so tender it’s to die for.. so how did you do it.
‘Oh it’s nuttin’ I reply ‘just summtin I picked up from my bestest chick in Dutchland’
Luv you like a mosquito bite,
Dave
I’ll just call your wife and tell her it was all me :)
Traded in the wife for a truck and RV trailer.. got a pretty good deal too
:>)
Wow. I cannot believe that I have NEVER heard of this!
I felt the same way!
Neat idea, must give this a try..
Dear Kay,
Velveting is not a big secret or black magic but a technique used to prevent delicate foods from overcooking. The cornstarch coat keeps the juices (flavor) inside the chicken and protects the texture when it is placed into hot oil or water. It’s not exactly a tenderizing method, but keeps food from becoming tough.
I know this method from recipes of chef Ken Hom. This is a old technique known in Soutern China and is common pratice in American (and Dutch) Chinese restaurants. In Nortern China it is not used at all.
As the name ‘velveting’ implies, the coating is white and fluffy and the meat is soft as velvet. I leave out the water but use 1 tablespoon of Shaoxin cooking wine (or dry sherry). When velveting is done in oil, the wok must be very hot before the oil goes in or the coated chicken will stick to the wok. The oil however should never be very hot or it will toughen the meat.
You can use the baking soda method (like Soes says) but that is something completely different. Unlike cornstarch, it change the structure of the meat. The bicarbonate of soda is a alkaline like acid. It change the fibers and breaks down the meat in the chicken if you wait to long. That’s more a tenderizing method.
I have to confess to knowing this from Ken Hom’s recipes too. Sorry Kay!
Not feeling the love :)
Tried this tonight, and LOVED the results! Thank you!
Kay .. Thank you for one very slick trick!!!
However, I’m confused. Obviously this works for chicken (and I assume turkey), but does it work with beef and pork too? Or do they need something different? Thanks for any guidance you can give!
This works for beef, pork and shrimp, too. From what I understood beef and pork have to be poached in oil while chicken and shrimp can be poached both in oil and water.
Thank you again!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have wondered about this for many years. I plan to share it with many friends and tell them how wonderful your web site is.
Can the chicken be frozen after velveting? It would be so great to do this in a big batch, then freeze it in bags for quick meals.
From what I’ve been told it can be frozen after velveting, but I haven’t tried it yet so no idea how it will come out.
Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Thank you so much for this recipe!! I’ve wondered how this was done for so long and now I can make my “tjap tjoy” at home too! I’m from Holland as well. :)