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Pictorial: Lemon Chicken

hzrt8w

By hzrt8w
in China: Cooking & Baking

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boaziko

boaziko

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Spanner:  Fantastic!  Thanks for your feed back!  Give the oyster pot a try.  If you like Cantonese clay pot dishes, you would like it.  :smile:

Thanks Ah Leung,

Simple and stunningly tangy! Made it Yesterday evening, to the joy of all ages.

For a slight dietary reason I used whey low (sugar substitute).

Boaziko

"Eat every meal as if it's your first and last on earth" (Conrad Rosenblatt 1935)

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prasantrin

prasantrin

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I made it last night, too! The sauce was great--I didn't like the ingredients list of the lemonade I found, so I made my own, using 1 1/2 cups water and the juice of 4 lemons. I probably should have just used 3, because I had to add a whole lotta sugar to it! In the end, though, I had a sauce that was the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness--very lemony! Too bad my chicken didn't turn out as well (I think I need to buy new oil, becuase my chicken tasted of stale oil, even though it was fresh from the container).

I can't wait for the sweet and sour pork pictorial so I can indulge in my other American Chinese food craving! (hint hint, nudge nudge :biggrin: )

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mizducky

mizducky

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The Japanese really like lemon flavored drinks but they are usually the carbonated versions. I know that one of the International markets by me sells a pink lemonade in a bottle, but I was worried about what color the dish would be.

Y'know, I bet it would work okay to use a carbonated lemon drink if you just can't find a non-carbonated one. It won't be the first time people have cooked with carbonated beverages; for one thing, I've seen a number of home-cooking recipes go by for glazing a baked ham with a concoction including Dr. Pepper or other fizzy soft drinks. And you could always let the carbonated drink stand awhile uncovered till it went flat, to get rid of excessive fizz.

Ellen Terris Brenner

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Dejah

Dejah

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Y'know, I bet it would work okay to use a carbonated lemon drink if you just can't find a non-carbonated one. And you could always let the carbonated drink stand awhile uncovered till it went flat, to get rid of excessive fizz.

The fizz will disappear as you bring the liquid to boil.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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  • 1 month later...
woodburner

woodburner

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hzrt8w,

I truly enjoyed your Lemon Chicken last evening. We did reduce the sugar to about half of what you suggested and used Panko crumbs for the breadcoating.

Superb!

Thank you so much for taking the time to do the pictorials, they are inspiration.

woodburner

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divalasvegas

divalasvegas

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Lemon Chicken (檸檬雞)

I love Lemon Chicken.  In China, Lemon Chicken is made with a whole chicken (skin and bones).  In USA, most Lemon Chicken dishes are made with boneless chicken breasts only.  In most of the Chinese restaurants that I ordered this dish, either they used too much batter, or that the lemon sauce had very little lemon flavor but lot of yellow coloring.  Here is my interpretation of the Lemon Chicken dish that I like.

Yet another beautiful dish from you hzrt8w.

You mention that in China this dish is usually prepared using a whole chicken. How is this done? Would one just cut up a whole chicken as usual and proceed or is the chicken cut in half and then each half is fried? Also, since I love spicy dishes, would adding a Chinese-style chili sauce or chilis detract from this dish? I was thinking of a result that would be sweet, lemony-tart, and spicy.

As everyone else has said, thanks so much for sharing your cooking and techniques.

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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hzrt8w

hzrt8w

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You mention that in China this dish is usually prepared using a whole chicken.  How is this done?  Would one just cut up a whole chicken as usual and proceed or is the chicken cut in half and then each half is fried?  Also, since I love spicy dishes, would adding a Chinese-style chili sauce or chilis detract from this dish?  I was thinking of a result that would be sweet, lemony-tart, and spicy.

I have seen a picture of the lemon chicken dish done with a whole chicken. Your question prompted me to think about it a little bit how it can be done at home. I haven't done this before. Here is what I think can be tried:

First rub the outside and inside of the whole chicken with some salt and five spice powder (or star anise powder) and a bit of light soy sauce. Leave it for marination for an hour or 2. Then deep-fry the chicken first to half-cooked, just about 5 minutes. If your wok is not big enough to hold the whole chicken for deep-frying, split the chicken in half first then deep-fry.

After deep-frying, chop up the chicken. The meat is still pink. Finish cooking it by braising with the lemon sauce during the reduce process.

Edited by hzrt8w (log)
W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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hzrt8w

hzrt8w

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I have given this some more thoughts. I think alternatively you can deep-fry the chicken to fully-cooked, chop up the chicken with a cleaver, then pour on the reduced lemon sauce. This way the chicken skin will remain crispy. It would be good too.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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divalasvegas

divalasvegas

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I have given this some more thoughts.  I think alternatively you can deep-fry the chicken to fully-cooked, chop up the chicken with a cleaver, then pour on the reduced lemon sauce.  This way the chicken skin will remain crispy.  It would be good too.

Thanks for the suggestions hzrt8w. I especially like the second one which would maintain the crispy texture of the chicken skin--best part of the chicken IMHO. And the marinade sounds heavenly as well. I'm assuming that for the whole chicken you would coat the chicken the same as you did the chicken breasts. BTW, I'm still on the hunt for a cleaver since I don't think my chef's knife would be up to the task.

Now for a pictorial on Chicken Feet in a Clay Pot. :smile:

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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hzrt8w

hzrt8w

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[...]  I'm assuming that for the whole chicken you would coat the chicken the same as you did the chicken breasts.  BTW, I'm still on the hunt for a cleaver since I don't think my chef's knife would be up to the task.

Actually, there is no need to coat the chicken when you cook it whole with skin on. The skin is the most natural coating you can have to protect the meat from overcooking. You want the skin to caramelize and turn brown during deep-frying.

As for shopping for a cleaver: choose the one that feels heavy (you need the momentum when swinging a cleaver), and with a straight thin blade.

Edited by hzrt8w (log)
W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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  • 6 months later...
Anna N

Anna N

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gallery_6903_111_11176.jpg

Just wanted to share my attempt at Lemon Chicken. It was delicious. Thank you for all the work you put into this.

Today I also made the oxtail with tomatoes which is now resting in the 'fridge. I will try to post a photo tomorrow.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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Anna N

Anna N

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Wow!!!  When are you going to invite me to dinner???  That looks gorgeous!!!  :biggrin:

Thank you. I can't imagine a nicer compliment. :wub:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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mangosteen

mangosteen

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Ah Leung

Thanks so much for this recipe, and all the others that you post. It is so generous of you to put all that time and energy into your pictorial recipe project and then share it with all of us. :smile:

I made the lemon chicken last night and it turned out fabulously. I could not find American-style lemonade so I just used the juice of two lemons sweetened to taste with a fair amount of sugar. I didn't read the recommendation to not reduce a lemon juice based sauce until today so it was pretty concentrated before I added the cornstarch slurry at the end. For us the small amount of tangy sweet sauce over the crispy chicken was perfect. Mmmmm. I've never tasted this dish in the U.S. so I am not familiar with the gloopy sweet version but this version is fantastic.

I wanted to mention that we also made the Sichuan dry-braised green beans (for the second time) the night before last and they are also delicious.

Thanks again!

Lisa

My Vinorati wine tasting journal
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Dejah

Dejah

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Made this lemon chicken tonight. I butterflied the chicken breasts (saved the tenderloin for another dish), coated them with cornstarch, egg, then fine bread crumbs. This is different from the battered one I made in my restaurant days.

I used Minute Maid frozen lemonade concentrate. Didn't need to reduce the lemonade, and I thickened it with a cornstarch slurry made with lemonade. I did add a tbsp of sugar to tame the tartness.

This was a nice contrast to the Sichaun deep fried green beans.

gallery_13838_3442_49815.jpg

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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  • 1 year later...
hzrt8w

hzrt8w

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Oh quick question, what happens if I don't have Minute Maid Lemonade over here? What could I use as a subsitute?

I suppose that living in a first world that you are, there are some kind of lemonade products? Non-carbonated sweetened lemon juice?

If not, well, squeeze 3 lemons and mix the juice with equal part of water (bring to a boil) and add plenty of sugar?

No fresh lemon? Oh, deer... :laugh:

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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Ce'nedra

Ce'nedra

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I suppose that living in a first world that you are, there are some kind of lemonade products?  Non-carbonated sweetened lemon juice?

If not, well, squeeze 3 lemons and mix the juice with equal part of water (bring to a boil) and add plenty of sugar?

No fresh lemon?  Oh, deer...  :laugh:

Oh I see -so as long as I use a non-carbonated lemon juice (that's also sweetened), then I'm set right? Silly me :laugh:

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