Baked Salted Chicken
Traditional Salt-Baked chicken (Yim Kok Gai) is typically seasoned with generous amount of salt and Dong quai (Angelica Sinensis) also known as female ginseng which gives an incredible aroma. It's then wrapped in parchment paper then buried in a huge wok of smoking hot coarse salt. The salt itself does not impart a hefty saltiness to the meat but instead, it retains the heat and cooks the bird evenly like an oven, locking all the flavors and basting the bird in its own juice. This result is a truly succulent chicken. This is an easy fail proof version with only 3 ingredients baked in the oven. It's important to use a generous amount of salt so that the chicken is salty enough. And for that awesome aroma of Dong quai, a generous amount is also required. You can get Dong Quai online or from Chinese Medicine Halls and supermarkets. However, if you are not familiar or unable to get this ingredient, you can omit it, and it will still taste good. Finally, as a tip, sometimes after chopping the chicken and serving in a plate, you may notice that there is some bloody liquid underneath the chicken. This is not a sign that the chicken in undercooked. This is an indication that the cavity is not clean enough. You need to discard the lungs inside the cavity completely. Normally, I will remind my chicken vendor to thoroughly remove the organs from the cavity of the chicken. If I forget then I will have to stick my hand into the cavity to remove them myself.
1. Clean and pat dry the chicken including the cavity with paper towels.
2. Prick some holes on the chicken with the tip of a knife to ensure that the salt is penetrated into the chicken evenly.
3. Rub the salt all over the chicken including the cavity. Then place the chicken into a bowl, cover with a layer of aluminum foil and refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight.
4. When the chicken is ready, place it on a parchment paper.
5. Place the Dong quai inside the cavity and the surface of the chicken.
6. Wrap the chicken with the parchment paper as shown in the video. Fold the middle and sides upwards to prevent any liquid from leaking out.
7. Wrap with another layer of parchment paper.
8. Wrap with 2 layers of aluminum foil. In total, I wrapped the chicken with 2 layers of parchment papers and 2 layers of aluminum foil to prevent any leakage. You can use 1 layer of aluminum foil instead of 1.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 390F or 200C for 1 hour.
10. Once ready, remove the wrappers and discard the Dong quai. Reserve the chicken stock which is produced naturally during baking and set aside.
11. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and drizzle the chicken stock over it. This chicken stock has all the salty goodness in it.
NUTRITION INFO
As this recipe only involves 1 whole chicken with hardly any carbs for the salt and Dong Quai, I will not be providing any nutrition info.
