SERVES 2 AS A MAIN COURSE, 4 TO 5 AS PART OF A MULTICOURSE MEAL
This dish has all the buzzwords of a successful menu item: “cold chicken salad,” “toasted,” “peanuts,” and “crispy.” It fairly insists that you order (or make) it!
Its popularity is well justified. It is a refreshing cold dish with great texture and great taste. The vinaigrette features pickled ginger, which is sure to arouse most anyone’s appetite.
NO-POACH CHICKEN:
1½ to 2 pounds whole fresh chicken breasts, bone in and skin on, at room temperature
2 quarter-size slices fresh ginger, smashed
1 whole fat scallion, cut into 1-inch nuggets, smashed
⅛ teaspoon Szechwan peppercorns
VINAIGRETTE:
3 tablespoons juice from China Moon Pickled Ginger (page 8)
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons rice bran, corn, or peanut oil
SALAD:
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes
⅓ cup fried or roasted peanuts (page 34)
1 cup thickly julienned Japanese or English cucumber
Scant teaspoon paper-thin rings red Fresno and/or green serrano chili
1½ tablespoons finely julienned China Moon Pickled Ginger
3 cups Crispy Rice Sticks (page 31)
Coriander sprigs, for garnish
1. Rinse the chicken breasts with cold water, dislodging any bloody bits near the bone. Choose a heavy pot with a close-fitting lid that will hold the chicken snugly with enough water to cover it by 2 inches. Do not add the chicken at this time. Partially fill the pot with cold water, add the ginger, scallion, and peppercorns, then bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat.
2. Submerge the chicken in the liquid, cover the pot tightly, and turn off the heat. If your stove is electric, carefully move the covered pot to a cool burner. Let the chicken sit, tightly covered and undisturbed, for 2 hours. If you like, it may be left longer in the liquid for convenience, although it will not cook further.
3. Drain the chicken and discard the liquid. (It absorbs very little flavor from the chicken, which is part of the beauty of the method.) Remove the skin and discard it. Use a small sharp knife to free the breast meat from the center bone, then use your fingers to pull the meat from the bone in one piece. Carefully pull the fillet from the underside of each breast half. Trim away and discard any fat, veins, membrane, or bits of bone from the breasts. Strip the fillets of their glove-like membrane; extract the white tendon from the center of each fillet. Cut the meat crosswise against the grain into long diagonal ribbons ¼ inch thick. At this point, or before it has been trimmed and cut, the chicken may be sealed and refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before using. Or, in order to preserve the plush texture of the meat, the chicken may be left covered at a cool room temperature for several hours.
4. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the pickled ginger juice, vinegar, salt, and chili flakes, and let stand 5 minutes to infuse. Add the oil in a thin stream, whisking to emulsify.
5. Toast the sesame seeds and the coconut separately in a dry, heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently until light gold, several minutes each.
6. Shortly before serving, toss together the chicken, peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut, cucumber, chili rings, and pickled ginger. Whisk the vinaigrette to reblend, then add it to the mixture and toss to combine. Add half the rice sticks and toss just to mix.
7. Mound the salad on individual plates or a large platter of contrasting color. Crown and rim with the reserved rice sticks, then add sprigs of fresh coriander to garnish.
I know of no better way to cook a chicken breast for salads than “no-poaching.” A modification on a classic Chinese technique, it involves nothing more than submerging a whole chicken breast with its skin and bone intact in lightly seasoned water that has been brought to a boil. The heat is then turned off, a lid clamped on the pot, and the meat left to cook through passively for 2 hours. It’s a no-brainer in the words of my husband, and a technique that amazes every cook in our kitchen. The result is a chicken breast that is tender, perfectly cooked, and unsurpassed for moistness.
Three things are important to the success of no-poach chicken:
First, the chicken must be impeccably fresh. That is, it should have no smell, leach no blood, and the raw meat should cling tenaciously to the skin and bone.
Second, the breast must be at room temperature when it is submerged in the boiling water.
Third, the pot should be a heavy one with a close-fitting lid to hold in the heat.
With all three in line, no-poaching is flawless. If you’re lacking in any one, poach the chicken in the government safety-approved, far less flavorful manner, i.e., by actively poaching in simmering water for upwards of 40 minutes.
MENU SUGGESTIONS: This is a fine one-dish meal for the warm months, bedded on a nest of baby lettuces dressed with our Fresh Ginger Vinaigrette (page 24) or an extra batch of the chicken salad vinaigrette. For a cold buffet, you might pair it with Cold Tomato Noodles (page 394) and Cold Poached Salmon Tiles with Ginger-Black Bean Vinaigrette (page 183). To follow it with something simple, try a grilled meaty fish.
