i have never really understood the point of arraying things on a plate in separate areas, only to turn around and stuff it all into your mouth at the same time anyway. why not save your guests the trouble of cutting everything up? of course, there are exceptions to this rule, because a world where everything resembles chopped salad is a depressing world, but chicken and rice isn’t fancy. it’s…chicken and rice. every culture has their own version of it, making it pretty much the universal comfort food.
this is the hainanese chicken from mark bittman’s column a few weeks ago, tweaked here and there. the basic method is to poach an entire chicken, then shred it and its accompaniments together into one delicious pile. this is a chicken and rice that would silence all of those people who believe that chinese food is, above all, greasy and heavy, yet it still remains identifiably chinese in its flavors. and now i’ll stop pretending i have any substantive knowledge of chinese cuisine. knowing how to make your mother’s dumplings and spring rolls doesn’t really qualify you as an expert on the entirety of chinese cuisine, last time i looked. (more…)