天降奇「雞」！The Miracle Chicken ! （English version scroll down, please!）

B在很久以前看過一部電影，片中主角將燉飯填入鵪鶉中再烹調（這道菜真的存在！），當時，B就對這道料理非常地有興趣。而小編也想起了台灣的香檳鳥，記得爸爸媽媽以前千里跋涉，在蜿蜒山路中找到了位於六龜的牧場，只為了一嘗「糯米香檳鳥」的滋味；同樣的還有韓國著名的料理－人參雞，這些都是在禽鳥中填塞入糯米飯及補品的料理。這麼想起來料理真的非常有趣，全世界各個國家的菜餚不盡相同，但卻有異曲同工之妙。

之後，B靈光乍現！如果我們可以將雞骨取出呢？記得每年聖誕節的時候，大家為了分切火雞總是絞盡腦汁，如何順著腔骨，毫不浪費地取下最多的肉？假若我們能拿掉這硬骨，如此一來，分切雞肉就像切蛋糕一樣！再者，雞腔中這麼大的空間，除了米飯、中式的藥材之外，我們也可以再填入其他食材！簡單的說，就像用「雞肉來包粽子」，雖然少了竹葉的香氣，但是卻有一大口的滿足－一道肉味十足的豪華大「肉粽」！

Long time ago, B remembered watching a movie in which the main character stuffed some beautiful risotto into a quail, though it was just a movie (This dish actually exists), B was deeply intrigued by this cooking method. Then, I remembered my parents used to travel a long journey to the mountainous area in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to visit a farm, where it raises a special crossbreed of quail named "Champagne Bird". (This quail tastes extremely tender and delicate with an amazing soft texture). The farm offers a range of quail dishes and in which the "rice stuffed quail" is included. Also, we definitely cannot miss one of the greatest Korean dishes in the world－ "Samgyetang" (Ginseng Chicken Soup), YES! this chicken is stuffed with sticky rice too. It is truly amazing that the cuisines throughout the world can be so different yet somehow so similar too.

However, the idea of removing the bone occurred to B when he thought about portioning the chicken! Since every Christmas we see people struggling to carve the turkey with the huge bone, if we can remove the bone, or at least less bone in the meat means carving the bird will be as easy as cutting a piece of cake! Furthermore, by removing the bone, we have more spaces to stuff in more ingredients. In short, think of it as a "Dumpling", instead of using a dough or bamboo leaves to wrap the ingredients, you're using a whole chicken to make a "Meaty, luxurious Dumpling"!

要做這道料理最難的步驟就在於如何把骨頭取出，又要保持全雞完好無缺。我和B參考了Youtube上一些示範的影片，以下也請讀者們看看！

The most difficult part of this dish is to remove the whole carcass out without damaging the meat. B and I watched some demonstration videos on Youtube, Let's have a look together!

這裡是一些重點的步驟：

Here are some important steps:

(Photo from A)

1、

將雞腿末部關節的地方切開，切斷所有連接的筋膜和組織。

Cut around the drumsticks (the end joints parts), make sure you cut through the sinews and remaining tissues.

2、

順著脖子往背骨的地方劃開，用刀尖慢慢劃開就可以了，小心不要劃到自己的手，直到你找到和翅骨連接的關節，切開！

Loose the chicken by cutting along the neck towards the back bone, do it gently with the tip of your knife and be careful don't hurt yourself. Until you see the cartilages (joints) that connect with the wing bones, cut it through to disconnect the wings.

3、

再從尾端的部分，沿著背骨往上劃開，同時找到和雞腿骨連接的地方，同樣地，把這個關節切開。

From another end. same as step 2, cut along the backbone and find the joints that connect with the thigh bones, disjoint the thigh bones.

4、

背部「貫通」後，轉過來胸部的部分，用你的手去感覺骨頭的位置，同樣地，用刀尖慢慢地劃開，直到你可以完整地把整架雞骨取出。

Once you fully separate the skin and the carcass on the back side, turn your chicken over to the breast side, from the very end of the breast bone, feel the bone with your fingers and gently cut it with the tip of the knife until you can successfully take out the whole carcass.

(Photo from A)

5、

接下來，我們要把腿骨移除。這個步驟比較簡單，用刀尖順著骨頭的方向劃開雞肉，再用刀子將骨頭上的肉輕輕地刮開，很快地，你就可以看到乾淨的骨頭，一直到往下將骨頭刮乾淨，到關節的地方再將骨頭取下。

Then, we are going to remove the thigh bones. This step is relatively easier (compared to the carcass). First of all, you shall place your knife tip parallel to the bone and cut the meat through until you can clearly see the bone, then, gently scrap the meat out of the bone, you will soon get a clean thigh bone, scrap all the way down till you see the joints, cut the bone down.

(Photo from A)

6、

在影片中你可以看見這位專業的師傅拿骨刀的方式—像握著匕首一樣，和一般我們拿刀的方式非常的不同，然而，這個方式對於一般不熟悉刀子的人來說非常的危險，大部分的人也不會有肉房師傅專用的鐵製背心（防止刺傷、割傷）；另外，骨刀的長度幾乎都很長，也就是說掌控起來較有難度，或者是家裡一般沒有骨刀的情況下—我個人非常推薦用廚房小刀來處理肉類，無論是去骨、切整、刮肉，因為刀身長度短，掌控起來也比較安全！

In the video you can see the professional butcher holding the boning knife like a dagger, yet, to most people it is considered to be dangerous since we are not wearing a stainless steel vest (a heavy metal vest to protect the butchers from cutting or stabbing themselves). Also, most of the boning knifes can be too long, and then you find yourself having problems controlling the knife, or, you don't even have a boning knife at home. In this case, I would personally recommend you using a sharp, small knife to operate the chicken or any type of meat that requires any cutting such as trimming or deboning, so that you can control the knife better and less dangerous to yourselves.

(Photo from wix)

雞肉準備好後，接下來則是我們的餡料！和裝飾蛋糕一樣，我和B總是覺得，不一定要貴的食材，但一定要是自己喜歡吃的，依照自己喜歡的樣式，做出自己喜歡的菜餚。因此這裡是我們自己喜歡的填料，讀者們可以發揮創意，做自己喜歡的「粽子」！

The most difficult part is finally finished! Now we have to prepare the stuffing. B and I think perfectly the same that you don't have to use any expensive or rare ingredients, but make sure that you love them, use the elements you like, create a dish you love! So here we list out our stuffing, but please do feel free and go wild to create you own "Luxurious Dumpling" !

(Photo from wix)

餡料

1、洋蔥、薑、蒜頭（稍微爆炒）

2、皺葉甘藍、紅蘿蔔及馬鈴薯（川燙）

3、糯米 (使用前先泡水至少1小時，使用時瀝乾)

4、少許醬油及橄欖油（簡單調味）

高湯

1、全雞骨架、骨頭

2、洋蔥、紅蘿蔔、西芹

3、百里香、月桂葉、八角

4、高湯塊（可加可不加，一公升水+一塊）

5、水（足夠淹過整隻雞即可）

醬汁

1、醬油、紅(黑)糖（比例約1：1）

***每隻雞的大小不同，能夠填入的餡料份量也不同，因此我們沒有寫出份量，只有寫出食材，請大家見諒喔~!

Stuffing

1、Onion, ginger and garlic (Sauté off)

2、Savoy cabbage, carrots and potatoes (Blanched)

3、Sticky rice (Soaked in water for at least an hour and drained before use)

4、Soy sauce and Olive oil (Light seasoning)

Stock

1、Whole carcass, thigh bones

2、Onion, Carrots, celery

3、Thyme, Bay leaves, Star anise

4、Stock cubes (optional, 1L water+1cube)

5、Water (Just enough the cover the whole chicken)

Sauce

1、Soy sauce and Brown sugar (Ratio=1:1)

***Every chicken comes in different sizes which also means the amount of the stuffing can be varied. So please forgive us for only listing out the ingredients with no measurement, thank you!

1、

製作快速的高湯！先將雞骨煎炒上色，加入切成大塊的洋蔥、紅蘿蔔、西芹以及表中所有香料（或其他任何你喜歡的食材），炒出香味後再加入冷水，加熱至滾，期間不停地撈除沸沫。接著轉成中火保持小沸騰至少30分鐘後再使用。視個人喜好可以加入高湯塊。（如何熬出美味高品質高湯！詳細秘訣看這裡）

First of all, we are going to make a quick stock, which will be our poaching liquid later by frying the bone first, followed by chunks of onion, carrot, celery and all the spices and herbs listed above (Or anything else you desire). When the bone is browned and you can smell the heavenly scent, pour in cold water (Just enough to cover the whole chicken) and bring to boil over high heat as soon as possible, turn to medium low heat and let the stock simmer for at least 30 min before use. Make sure to constantly skim the surface to remove the excess fat and impurities! You may use stock cubes if you want!

2、

先將洋蔥切小塊，薑切絲、蒜頭切小片，快速地爆炒。將皺葉甘藍（或以高麗菜取代）洗淨，切除較硬的白梗，川燙約十秒至軟化即可，紅蘿蔔、馬鈴薯切丁，川燙約兩~三分鐘至半熟。糯米洗淨，先泡水至少1個小時再使用喔！

For the stuffing, we are going to pan-fry the onion (medium dice), ginger (julienne or dice) and garlic (thin slice) very briefly, just to bring out the flavour. Rinse the savoy cabbage (or plain cabbage if you don't have any), remove the hard white stem and blanch it in boiling water for about 10 sec, just to soften the leaves, and parboil the carrot and potato (medium dice) in water for about 2-3 min till half-cooked. As for the sticky rice, make sure you soak it in cold water at least an hour before use.

3、

從尾端的地方打開你的雞，我們要先鋪上一層甘藍葉，用甘藍葉砌成一道厚實的牆，如此一來可以保護餡料不會在烹調過程中漏出來。接下來，將其他所有的餡料混和，一匙一匙地填入雞腔中，用湯匙輕輕地將餡料往下壓實，大約九分滿就可以了！最後，再用烹飪棉線緊緊地將雞綁緊，這裡並沒有固定的綁法，因為雞骨已經被移除，一般綁雞的方法並不適用，所以，輕鬆自在地綁好你的雞！只要雞能定型、餡料不會從兩端的開口（頸部、臀部）流出，那就可以了！

Now, open up your chicken from the bottom side, you're going to line the chicken with cabbage leaves. Imagine you are making a bowl so the leaves must overlap with each other, the leaves act like a thick wall that prevents the stuffing from flowing out during the cooking process. Then, you may mix all the other ingredients together, simply fill in the stuffing with a spoon and press it down firmly, make sure it's compact by pressing it gently, until it's 90% full, which helps the chicken to hold its shape, as if the bone were still inside. Last, tie your chicken tightly with butcher's twine, as normal trussing method doesn't work here because the bone has been removed out, yet there's no need to worry either tie the chicken freely as you wish, simply make sure the stuffing doesn't flow out from the 2 ends and that the chicken can hold the shape firmly then you're all GOOD!

4、

小心翼翼地將你的雞放進小滾的高湯中，加蓋、保持微滾的狀態慢燉1個半小時。

***如果你不確定雞肉有沒有熟，用刀子輕輕地刺進雞肉最厚的地方（大腿內側、胸），如果沒有血水，那雞肉就是煮熟了！

Gently place your chicken into the simmering stock and poach the chicken with the lid on for 1 and an half hour, make sure the liquid is simmering over low heat.

***If you're not sure whether the chicken is cooked or not, simply stick a knife into the thickest part of the chicken (normally the thighs and breasts), if the liquid comes out clear with no trace of blood, the chicken is perfectly cooked!

5、

將雞肉移到烤盤上，慢慢地拿掉烹飪棉線，再刷上醬油和糖做成的醬汁，並且舀一些高湯到烤盤中。將雞肉放進預熱好的高溫烤箱（約220度以上的烤箱溫度），直到雞皮變得金黃酥脆，約莫十分鐘的時間，而此時的紅糖醬油也會濃縮成讓你吮指難忘的美味醬汁。

***因為醬汁含糖，在烤箱濃縮後可能會變得太稠，因此舀入一些高湯，避免燒焦

Transfer the chicken onto a baking tray and remove the butcher's twine with care. Brush the soy sauce with brown sugar onto the chicken and meanwhile ladle some stock into the tray. Then, roast the chicken in a preheated high temperature oven (Over 220 degree C, Gas mark 8), about 10 minutes, until the skin become crispy and golden brown.

***The sauce will glaze the chicken and eventually, become the wonderful sauce...however, due to the sugar in the sauce which helps thickening might be burnt under high heat so we add in some stock into the tray just to prevent it from happening.