Serves 4

Source: Wong Chiu

Wong writes: "Ever look at a Chinese BBQ meat shop?  They have these wonderful roast ducks, pigs and soy sauce chickens.  Ever wonder how easy it is to cook a soy sauce chicken?  It is a lot simpler than you think.  This is something that my mother taught me.  BTW, this recipe works for chicken wings as well (soy sauce chicken wings), but the chicken wings take only 15 minutes to cook."

Ingredients:

1 bottle of dark soy sauce (500 or 750 ml)
1 bottle of light soy sauce (500 or 750 ml)
6 stars of anise
1 ginger root (about the size of a 6 month old baby?s fist)
1 cup of sugar
water
1 chicken (4 ? 5 pounds)

1  Clean chicken well.

2  Pour both bottles of soy sauce into a large pot (big enough to hold the chicken with the soy sauce).

3  Add equal amount of water for each bottle of soy sauce (that?s why it does not matter the size of the bottles).

4  Add in the stars of anise, ginger root and sugar.  Bring it to a boil.

5  Once the pot has boiled, put the Chicken in (Breast side down).  Bring back to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover for 1/2 hour.

6  After ½ hour, turn the Chicken over in the pot and cover again (do not bring the sauce to a boil).

7  After the second ½ hour, take the chicken out and let cool.

8  NOW this is the good part.  Save the sauce.  The sauce now has the flavour of the chicken in it, along with the soy.  This sauce can be re-used. 

9  Chill and remove the fat, then freeze.  When you have the craving again, take this sauce out and re-use it the same way. 

After 3 ? 4 chickens, you may need to replenish the soy sauce again.  But use the same amount of liquids mentioned.  By all means add a ginger root each time and take the old one out.  Add the stars of anise after you replenish the sauce as well as the sugar.

After about 10 chickens, the sauce will take on a wonderful flavour of its own and is now good enough to act as a dressing (this is the best term I can think of for it).  For example, you can pour 1 tablespoon of it over a bowl of white rice.

There are sauces like this in China that are over 100 years old.  Of course, they are replenished often and used to cook every day.

There are plenty of uses for this sauce, but that?s another recipe.

• Feedback & Sharing Your Recipes