Tea & Soy Sauce Braised Chicken

Name: Tea & Soy Sauce Braised Chicken
Total time: 3600 s
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2.5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken; 1 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 2 Tablespoons oil; 1 inch segment of ginger root, sliced into 1/8" discs; 1/2 large onion (brown or white), cut into 1/4" slices; 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed; 2-3 Tablespoons tea (I used oolong, but you could use other plain green or black varieties); 1 +1/4 cup water; 1/8 cup Chinkiang or balsamic vinegar; 1/4 cup soy sauce; 3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar; 1 green onion, julienned (or cut in thin strips) and julienned ginger for garnish and added flavor

x @cook_5886383

This Tea & Soy Sauce Braised Chicken is a great dish for a weeknight meal or casual dinner party with its budget- and palate-friendly but subtly complex flavor profile; a short, easily subbed and somewhat fused ingredient list; and a beautiful presentation with little fuss.

This recipe goes from stovetop to oven, so you'll need either a large ovensafe pot or pan to go directly into the oven from the stove, or a pot/pan in which to sear and braise the chicken, and an oven safe dish in which to broil the skin.

You could go without the broiling step, and the dish will still be delicious, but you'll miss out on that beautifully crisped and slightly charred chicken skin that I love so well (too much, maybe).

x @cook_5886383

You could go without the broiling step, and the dish will still be delicious, but you'll miss out on that beautifully crisped and slightly charred chicken skin that I love so well (too much, maybe).

Saved

Ingredients

60 minutes

4 servings

2.5 poundsbone-in, skin-on chicken
1 teaspoonskosher salt
1 teaspoonblack pepper
2 Tablespoonsoil
1 inchsegment of ginger root, sliced into 1/8" discs
1/2large onion (brown or white), cut into 1/4" slices
4-5 clovesgarlic, crushed
2-3 Tablespoonstea (I used oolong, but you could use other plain green or black varieties)
1+1/4 cup water
1/8 cupChinkiang or balsamic vinegar
1/4 cupsoy sauce
3 Tablespoonspacked brown sugar
1green onion, julienned (or cut in thin strips) and julienned ginger for garnish and added flavor

Saved

Steps

60 minutes

1

Season the chicken on both sides with the salt and pepper.
2

In a large pot/pan (this one's a 13" saute), bring the 2 Tablespoons of oil to medium high heat and brown and sear the chicken, about 3 minutes per side.
3

Put the chicken aside and saute the aromatics (onions, ginger, garlic) in the pan until the onions just begin to turn translucent.
4

Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of water, soy sauce and vinegar, making sure to scrape all the fond (the yummy bits left sticking to the pan after you sear the chicken) off the bottom, and add the tea.
5

Lower the heat to medium low, pour in the rest of the water, stir in the brown sugar, and add the chicken - SKIN SIDE DOWN - and simmer, partially covered (leaving about a half inch crack to allow steam to escape) for 20 minutes. Because heat builds and accumulates during the simmering process, it's a good idea to stir the chicken and check the temp once in a while to make sure it's not getting so hot that the chicken and/or sauce are burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6

After simmering for 20 minutes, flip the chicken over, SKIN SIDE UP (this is important, as you need to give the skin some time to dry out before going under the broiler) and simmer another 20 minutes. At this point, preheat the oven to BROIL.
7

Once the chicken has simmered 40 minutes total, take it off the stove top and place it under the broiler so that the tops of the chicken are 3 to 4 inches from the heat element so the skin can char and crisp, about 2 minutes (check after about a minute and a half, and every 10 seconds thereafter - stuff can go from perfectly charred and caramelized to burnt beyond recognition very quickly under the broiler).
8

Plate with the julienned green onions and ginger sprinkled on top. I like to serve this with steamed jasmine rice, green beans stir-fried in a sweet, caramelized oyster sauce with some garlic, and baby bok choy stir-fried with oyster sauce, garlic and just a hint of ginger.