Shanghai-style Drunken Chicken Rolls
Looking for the ultimate meal prep cold dish? Try these Shanghai drunken chicken rolls steeped in aromatic Shaoxing wine broth. Perfect for weeknight dining.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 285kcal
Equipment
- Steamer For gentle, even cooking of the chicken log.
- Heavy-Duty Aluminum Foil Essential for shaping and compressing the chicken tightly.
- Stockpot For simmering the herbal bone broth.
- Fine Mesh Strainer Ensures crystal-clear steeping liquid free of bone fragments.
- Large Bowl for Ice Bath Rapidly chilling of the steamed chicken.
- Sharp Chef Knife Crucial for slicing clean, precise rounds without squishing the tender roll.
Ingredients
Chicken Rolls
- 2 Chicken Legs deboned
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ cup Shaoxing Hua Tiao Wine
Broth
- Chicken Bones from chicken legs
- 500 ml Water
- 2 pcs Bay Leaves
- 3 pcs Red Dates (Jujubes)
- 2 pcs Dang Gui (Angelica Sinensis)
- 6 slices Ginger
- 2 tsps Salt
- 2 tbsps Sugar
- 2 tbsps Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Goji Berries
- 1 cup Shaoxing Hua Tiao Wine
Instructions
Step 1: Tenderize and Marinate the Chicken
- Place your deboned chicken legs flat on a cutting board, skin side down. Using the flat side or back of a heavy chef knife, smack the thickest portions of the meat gently to relax the muscle tissue.
- Transfer the chicken into a shallow dish, sprinkle evenly with half a tsp of salt, and pour in 1/4 cup of Shaoxing wine. Rub the chicken to coat marinate evenly and set aside for thirty minutes.
Step 2: Shape and Wrap into Cylindrical Logs
- Lay a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil flat on your work surface. Roll each chicken leg tightly into a compact log, ensuring the smooth skin faces outward. Wrap the foil around the log tightly, then twist both ends of the foil like a candy wrapper.
Twist the foil ends as tightly as possible without tearing. This ensures the chicken roll its dense, perfect circular shape.
Step 3: Steam to Perfection
- Set up a steamer with water and bring it to a rolling boil over high heat. Place the foil-wrapped chicken roll into the steamer, cover and steam on high heat for 20 mins.
- Then turn off the heat and allow the chicken to sit in the covered steamer for another 5 mins.
Step 4: Ice Bath Shock
- While the chicken is steaming, prepare a large bowl filled with water and plenty of ice cubes.
- Remove chicken from the steamer and plunge it directly into the ice bath. Keep the chicken submerged for at least 15 mins to stop cooking process and lock in remaining juices.
The drastic temperature change gelatinises the melted fat and collagen beneath the skin, creating that iconic gelatinous Chinese cold chicken bite.
Step 5: Prepare the Herbal Bone Broth Base
- While the chicken chills in its ice bath, chop your reserved chicken bones in half.
- In a stockpot, add in the bones, water, bay leaves, red dates, dang gui slices, ginger, salt, sugar, and light soy sauce. Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiled, reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and let it simmer for 30 minutes to concentrate the flavors.
Step 6: Cool, Strain, and Finish the Broth
- Remove the stockpot from the heat and allow the herbal broth to cool completely to room temperature.
- Strain the cooled broth through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container, discarding the bones and herbs. Stir in the goji berries and the remaining cup of Shaoxing Hua Tiao wine.
Always wait until the broth is cold before adding the final cup of Shaoxing wine. Adding alcohol to hot broth causes volatile aromatic compounds to evaporate.
Step 7: Steep and Refrigerate
- Carefully unwrap the chilled chicken roll from the foil. Fully submerge the chicken roll into the prepared broth. Cover and place it in the refrigerator to steep for at least 24 hours, or up to 48 hours for maximum flavor depth.
Step 8: Slice and Serve
- Remove the chicken roll from the broth and place it on a clean cutting board. Using a sharp chef knife, slice the roll into rounds approximately 1 cm thick.
- Arrange the slices on a serving platter, garnish with goji berries, and add a few tablespoons of the cold broth over the chicken before serving.