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METHODS

Chicken cut into pieces the Chinese way

Cutting the chicken this way, makes it much easier to serve when entertaining a large group of people.

  • Use a cleaver or a large sharp knife and with the chicken breast facing upwards, cut right through the chicken against the side of the backbone into two halves.
  • Cut each chicken half diagonally across to give you two pieces each of a breast and a wing, and two pieces of a leg and a thigh.
  • Find the joint between each breast and wing and cut right through to separate the breast from the wing. Do the same with the leg and thigh.  You will now have eight pieces.
  • Cut each wing into two pieces on the joint, and chop each leg into three pieces.  (If you wish, you can then put the tips of the wing and the leg aside to make stock later on.)
  • Cut each breast into three pieces diagonally, and do the same with the thighs.
    You should now have 20 pieces if you do not discard the tips of the wings and legs.

By STELLA

I have had no formal chef’s training. Classical piano was my parents’ choice, and that took care of the first 20 years of my life. Journalism and radio followed (my own choices, this time), and these opened many doors for me into different countries, people, cultures — and, of course, foods. In a six week series on radio I used it as a platform for my love of food and shared lots of interesting recipes and food news with listeners.
My earliest memories of food come from the family kitchen at home; I can still remember the wonderful smells of the dishes my mother prepared. I became aware of the flavors of her creations at an early age. Some I enjoyed and preferred, while others depressed me with their lack of interesting flavors. My mother was a good cook, but not a gourmet, and sadly this often showed. What I did appreciate was that she always involved me in the preparation, sharing her knowledge of nutrition, flavor, color, and the harmonies of each plate she dished up. She was also a genius with leftovers and quick meals when unexpected guests arrived. This is one of the things that stands out in my mind, and it inspired me to create wonderful dishes from leftover foods myself.

I carried on with the tradition of carefully planning meals to combine nutrition, color and flavor, while at the same time offering variety and elegant presentation. In the process, I developed a passion for seeking out the best available products, adhering to each season’s offerings, and treating it with the respect it deserves, which eventually became part of my daily culinary life and travels. I did these things not because I wanted to become a chef, but to satisfy myself, family and friends with creations of gorgeous food and exciting flavors. All of which, I hope, is reflected in this blog.

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