TRUE confession: I love cold chicken. Cold roast chicken, cold fried chicken, a meaty cold chicken carcass for finger-licking nibbling. And during the long days of summer, I crave cold boiled chicken, brightened with hot pepper, sesame oil and scallions. But not really boiled. The secret to the best-tasting chicken with the loveliest texture is to barely simmer it ever so gently at just under the boil. A number of Chinese recipes describe a whole chicken cooked in this manner. Some even call for dipping a whole bird into a pot of boiling water and essentially turning off the heat, clamping on the lid and waiting. Here I’ve adapted the technique for meaty thighs.
This is an easy dish, put together in minutes and abandoned for an hour on a low flame. If you do it in the morning it will be ready for lunch, but I prefer to cook it a day ahead. Its flavors deepen with a night in the fridge.
Do buy the best chicken you can, even if it costs more (it will). Factory chickens always taste flabby no matter what you do. Choose a free-range bird for the flavor, the food politics and, not least, the muscular thighs.
The recipe in three sentences: Season the thighs with salt and pepper, ginger, star anise and scallions, cover with water and simmer slowly. Remove the chicken, reduce the cooking liquid, then pour it back over the meat. Wait until it’s well chilled.
To serve, sprinkle the ice-cold jelly-clad chicken with sesame oil, scallions, cilantro and jalapeño slices. Give it a squeeze of lime. If you want something extra, add cucumber, avocado and crisp lettuce leaves. Or take off the skin, shred the chicken and have it with cold noodles.
Recipe:
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