I spent an amazing fortnight wandering around, tasting incredible food fresh from the street-sellers and being blown away by the visual impact of the city. Hong Kong is the kind of place where butcher shops literally take the action onto the street which can be a bit of an eye-opener for foreigners! But I just loved how the freshness of ingredients is absolutely paramount there - all the produce goes straight from the vendor into the kitchen and onto the plate. Brilliant.
The Chinese still use fantastic traditional cooking techniques, which is something I really admire. One style I was reminded of was salt baking, a Hakka custom from southeast China, where meat is baked in a mound of hot salt. It can be adapted so the meat bakes inside a salt crust, which triggered the idea for my Salt Baked Chicken Stuffed with Citrus and Fennel recipe, below.
Feel free to experiment with flavours - whatever you stuff inside the cavity of the chicken will permeate throughout the meat. In this case the citrus combined with the fennel and garlic is perfectly complemented by the tropical fruit aromas and dry finish of James Squire Golden Ale. But watch out - no matter how tasty the crust looks, it is far too salty to eat.
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Salt baked chicken stuffed with citrus and fennel served with James Squire Golden Ale
Serves 4-6
For the salt dough
1kg plain all purpose flour
1kg coarse salt
650 ml water
For salt baked chicken
1.8 - 2kg whole organic chicken
1 quantity of the salt dough
For the dressing
2 tablespoons fennel seeds toasted
1 clove of garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
Juice 1 orange (blood orange if available) and 2 lemons
A good dash of extra virgin olive oil
For the salt crust
In a large bowl combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and add most but not all of the water. What you are looking for is a firm yet malleable dough add remaining water if required. Start to form a dough by kneading with your hands. Once your dough is made, place it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. It will need to rest for an hour. Roll out your dough on a floured bench until 5mm thick. Place dough on a baking tray.
For the chicken
Twist the wings of the chicken to sit under the bird and pull the legs away from the body. Pat dry inside. If you want to stuff the cavity, use the squeezed orange and lemon peels from the dressing (see below) and a head of fennel with the fronds attached.
Put the chicken breast side down into the middle of your dough and wrap completely making sure it is totally covered. Patch any holes that may appear, it is important to get a good seal. Roll the chicken over so its breast side up. Cook at 190 - 2000C for 50 minutes to an hour - it should bake as hard as clay. Rest for 30- 40 minutes out of the oven before eating, this is important as it is still cooking inside the crust.
For the dressing
Grind the fennel seeds with a mortar and pestle then add the garlic, sugar and salt and make a paste. Add the juice from the orange and lemons and the oil. Taste for seasoning, you want a good balance of salty/sweet and sour.
To serve
When you are ready to serve you will need to open your crust. Do this by using the heel of a chopping knife and hack into the dough near the base, working all the way around. You will be creating a dish with a lid. Take this to the table, remove the lid and pour over some of the dressing, allow your guests to add more as required.
