Recipe: Red Cooked Tangerine Chicken

Red Cooked Tangerine Chicken

3 1/2 lb Frying chicken (or chicken parts)
1 lg Piece dried orange or tangerine peel
1/3 c Dry sherry
1/2 c Peanut oil
3 1/2 c Boiling water
Cornstarch paste
Flower roll for garnish
Parsley or watercress for garnish

Sauce:

3 lg Slices ginger root
3 tb Hoisin sauce
2 tb Dark soy sauce
3 Whole star anise
2 lg Lumps rock sugar
1 ts 5-spice powder
3 Green onions, quartered

Rinse and soak dried peel in sherry for 1 hour. Remove chicken neck, heart, gizzard and liver (use in stock pot). Wash chicken and chop into large chunks. Mix sauce ingredients. Browning: Add peanut oil to moderately hot wok. When oil is hot, brown chicken pieces; remove pieces from oil with strainer and drain over bowl. Slow-cooking: Remove all oil from wok; heat to moderate. Add peel, sherry, and sauce (remixed first); add boiling water. Bring to simmer. Add chicken pieces. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is tender but still adhering to bones. When tender, remove pieces from sauce. Transfer 1 cup of sauce, less the spices, to a saucepan; thicken with cornstarch paste to a light gravy. Arrange chicken pieces on large serving platter to resemble the shape of a chicken. Place bunch of parsley or watercress at the tail, a flower roll at the head with a piece of star anise for a beak. Pour sauce over chicken when ready to serve.