- 6
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 star anise pod, broken into points
- 1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, crushed with a knife
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (stems and leaves)
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 2 quartered chickens (3 to 3 1/2 pounds each)
Preparation
Step 1
1. Whisk the soy sauce, rice wine, hoisin sauce and honey in a bowl; set aside.
2. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the star anise and peppercorns; cook, stirring until toasted, about 10 seconds. Add the cilantro, scallions and garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce mixture and simmer over medium heat until slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool, then add the chicken and toss. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours.
3. Transfer the chicken to a rack set in a roasting pan (reserve the marinade). Refrigerate the chicken, uncovered, about 3 hours to dry out the skin.
4. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat to 400. Pour 1/4 inch of water and the reserved marinade into the roasting pan. Roast the chicken 20 minutes. Baste with the pan juices, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and continue roasting unil the skin is glazed and a thermometer inserted into a breast registers 160, 20 to 25 more minutes. Transfer the chicken (on the rack) to a board. Pour the pan juices into a skillet; simmer over medium-high heat until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Drizzle over the chicken.