Chinese chicken broth

[sharksoup]

I recently picked up the Williams & Sonoma "Discovering China" cookbook. It's quite a beautiful book and it seems well written.

The recipe for Chinese chicken broth caught my attention, however, and it sounds a bit odd to me. I was wondering if anyone else was familiar with this technique, and could explain the reasoning behind it.

Basically the recipe calls for you to pour boiling water over the raw chicken parts you are using, then bring the water back to a boil, then to discard that batch of water, and replace it with fresh water, in addition to the additional flavoring agents (like ginger and green onion).

It seems to me like that initial boil-and-dump sequence would remove the strongest, most flavorful broth from the final product. Unless the whole concept is to find the more delicate and balanced chicken flavors that will emerge from the parts after the initial rawness is cooked out?

Help me understand here.

[canadiancook]

I don't know much about chinese cooking, but this sounds to me like a blanching process to remove impurities,blood proteins, etc. thus resulting in a clean tasting and clear broth. The water should only just be brought back to the boil in order to avoid extracting too much flavour.

[Suzanne F]

That's meant to clean off any impurities. Just as you might do the same with veal bones when making a white veal stock: removing the loose bits of protein that would cloud the stock otherwise.

What I'm used to is bringing a whole chicken, plus flavorings, to a boil, then turning off the heat and letting the chicken sit in the water until cool. Again, the idea is to not let gunk come off the meat into the broth.

And anyway, Chinese chicken stocks are delicate rather than hearty.

[gyc]

That's basically what my (Chinese) mom does when she's using meat to make soup or broth. She'll quickly cook the meat in boiling water then replace the water to make the broth. She claims that it removes blood and other impurities and also removes the "bad" smell from the meat.

[tissue]

This is how my mother makes it.

You are also supposed to add scallions and a some ginger slices, cook for a long time. It's better to use an old stewing hen instead of a young fryer.

[jo-mel]

As everyone has said, you are getting rid of that scum that you usually see when you are making stock, ensuring a clear broth.

If you do make some stock, make sure that you keep the fluid at a bare simmer, after the first steps, when you are actually letting the chicken and bones flavor the water . If you let it boil for even a few minutes, there is something about the fat molecules breaking down and making your beautiful clear stock ---- milky.

[JPW]

Someone please tell me if I am wrong here.

I was under the impression that one of the reasons to start in room temp water, boil, and dump, then start again for the long simmer, was that some of the bad things you don't want in your broth (blood, other proteins, etc.)will not dissolve in boiling water. That's why you need to bring the water up through the range of temps to boiling point. And not just dump boiling water over the chicken.

[Carlovski]

Most chinese cooking techniques go to great lengths to remove 'Raw' or 'Rank' meat tastes and aromas, initially blanching in boiling water and adding ingredients to counteract the taste are very common (Ginger, rice wine in particular)

[budrichard]

'Gai Scung Tong' or Chicken Stock from 'The Chinese Kitchen' by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo is without a doubt the best I have ever made! As with most Chinese recipes the intial boil water is removed. In French cooking, the surface of the pot is skimmed to remove the same impurities. In any event, lots of ginger, green onions and cilentro make for our favorite stock for Sharks Fin soup. -Dick