Velveting Chicken
Source of Recipe
the web
Recipe Introduction
velveting is just a method of marinating and pre-cooking the meat to make it fluffy and tender prior to incorporating it into the dish. The wonderful thing about this, of course, is that it can be done in advance
List of Ingredients
1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg white
1 tbl cornstarch
1 tbl oil
1 tbl rice wine or dry sherry
2 cups oil for frying
Recipe
Remove any skin from the chicken and cut it into whatever sized pieces the recipe for your final dish calls for (shreds, slices, cubes, etc.). Put the chicken into a mixing bowl, then add the salt and rice wine and stir.
Beat the egg white until the gel is broken - it should not be frothy (this could cause the coating to puff and disintegrate. Add the egg white to the chicken, sprinkle in the cornstarch, and mix well.
Add the tablespoon of oil and stir until smooth (slimy is the texture we're going for here!). Place the bowl in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, so the coating has time to adhere to the meat.
Heat 2 cups of oil in a wok or heavy pan until it is warm, about 275°, or until it foams a cube of bread very slowly. Give the coated chicken a quick stir and scatter in the pieces. Quickly (but gently) stir them to separate them. You should use chopsticks or a wooden spoon for this - a fork would damage the coating. The oil should cover every piece.
If the chicken begins to sizzle, lower the heat immediately; hot oil will make velveted chicken hard and yellow.
Once all the meat has turned white, which only takes about 30 to 45 seconds, immediately strain the chicken, which is now velveted and ready to be stir fried. This can be done some time in advance, and just kept in a covered dish until you're ready to use it. One word of warning, though: don't put velveted chicken into the fridge! It will become hard: not the effect we are looking for!
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