Drunken chicken

Drunken chicken
One possible version of Shaoxing drunken chicken
Traditional Chinese	醉雞
Simplified Chinese	醉鸡
Literal meaning	drunk chicken
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin zuìjī Yue: Cantonese Jyutping zeoi3 gai1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ chui koe

Drunken chicken is the name given to several different ways of preparing chicken using alcoholic beverages.

China

In Chinese cuisine there are many different ways of cooking drunken chicken.

• One nationally known and very popular version, Shaoxing, originated in the Zhejiang province of eastern China. Shaoxing drunk chicken is cooked and marinated exclusively in historic Shaoxing wine to create a deep taste.
• In another version of the dish, the whole chicken is first steamed then chopped up into pieces appropriately sized for picking up by chopsticks. The steamed meat, along with its juice, is cooked with scallions, ginger and salt. After the chicken is cooked it is marinated in Chinese liquor, sherry or a distilled liquor, like whiskey, overnight in the refrigerator. The chicken is served chilled, often as an appetizer. Besides the liquor-flavored meat, another feature of the dish is the liquor-flavored gelatin that results from the chilled mixture of the alcohol and the cooking juices.
• Typically in most traditional culinary methods for this dish, the chicken should have been fed grains and seeds that are soaked in rice wine. The type of wine varies accordingly to location and preference. The texture and flavour of the meat would be richer and deeper as opposed to solely cooking it in Chinese liquor. However this is seldom done in recent times as it entails a huge amount of cost for a marginal improvement in flavour

North America

A North American version (also known as beer can chicken, beer butt chicken, dancing chicken or chicken on a throne) is made by standing a prepared chicken upright on a partially filled can of beer and cooking it slowly (sometimes indirectly) in a barbecue or oven. The common understanding is that this method causes the beer to evaporate and permeate the cooking chicken. However, other sources argue that, when cooked in this way, the maximum temperature inside the chicken does not reach the boiling point of water or beer, and thus no beer flavor makes its way into the chicken.

Another related recipe is bourbon chicken, which is prepared from bourbon whiskey.

Latin America

The Argentine, Chilean and Mexican versions of this dish are called pollo borracho, and usually include green and black olives and cinnamon.

Greece

Μεθυσμένο κοτόπουλο (methisméno kotópoulo) - Drunken Chicken - is a dish found with many variations in taverna in Greece and Cyprus. Served as a meze or a main course, the basic recipe consists of chicken breasts, marinated in alcohol (usually Ouzo), sautéed, then braised in the marinade.

See also

• List of chicken dishes

External links

• Chinese Drunken Chicken recipe
• Chicken On A Throne smoker recipe
• Beer Can Chicken recipe
• Methismeno Kotopoulo recipe