Dezhou Braised Chicken, also known as Dezhou Five-Spice Boneless Braised Chicken, is a traditional specialty of Dezhou, Shandong Province. Because the braised chicken is slowly simmered until it is thoroughly cooked, the bones can be removed by shaking it out of the pan, but the muscles are still lumpy, hence the name "braised chicken". The product is golden in color, pink in texture, reddish in skin, tender and silky, oily but not greasy, and exceptionally well cooked.

1. Reference recipe

200 chickens, 3.5kg salt, 4kg soy sauce, 0.5kg sugar, 50g cumin, 10g Amomum villosum, 50g nutmeg, 25g cloves, Angelica dahurica. 125g, 25g grass fruit, 75g kaempferol, 125g cinnamon, 50g tangerine peel, 100g star anise, 50g pepper, 500g green onion, 250g ginger.

2. Process flow

Selection of raw materials → slaughtering and shaping → coloring and frying → stewing → taking out the chicken from the pot → finished product.

3. Operational points

(1) Raw material selection

Choose healthy hens or other chickens of the current year. The chickens are required to be fat and tender, weighing 1.2~ 1.5kg.

(2) Slaughtering and shaping

The neck is stabbed and bled, three tubes are cut off, and the blood is drained, then scalded with hot water at 65 to 75°C, fished out and rinsed immediately. After washing, cut open the abdomen, take out all the internal organs, rinse the inside and outside of the chicken with clean water, cross the legs of the chicken and insert it into the abdominal cavity, cross the wings and insert them into the killing knife, and expose the wing tips from the chicken's mouth to form a lying body and mouth. The shape of the wings, drained and ready for processing.

(3) Coloring and frying

Use a brush to dip into the sugar liquid (white sugar boiled with water or diluted with honey and water, a ratio of 1:4) Brush the surface of the chicken body. Then put the chicken carcass in a hot oil pan and fry for 3 to 5 minutes. When the chicken carcasses turn golden and translucent, take them out immediately and drain the oil.

(4) Stew

Put the spices into a gauze bag and put them into the pot together with other auxiliary ingredients. Place the fried chicken carcasses in order and arrange them in the pot. Place a layer of iron mesh at the bottom of the pot to prevent the chicken from sticking to the pot. Then put the soup (old soup accounts for half of the total soup) so that the chicken body is completely soaked in the soup, and put bamboo rafts and stones on top to prevent the chicken body from rolling when the soup boils. First cook on high heat for 1 to 2 hours, then switch to low heat and simmer for 6 to 8 hours for young chickens and 8 to 10 hours for old chickens.

(5) Remove the chicken from the pot

After the fire ceases, take out the bamboo rafts and stones, and use a hook and spoon to fish out the chicken as soon as possible. In order to prevent peeling, head turning, and broken legs, be gentle when taking out the pot, and lift the chicken steadily to keep the integrity of the chicken body. The finished product is ready after taking out the pot.