Skillset: Velveting Chicken

If you've ever wondered why the dishes you get in Chinese restaurants are different from your attempts at home, the answer could well be: velveting. Sounds..well...odd, doesn't it? But velveting is just a method of marinating and pre-cooking the meat to make it fluffy and tender prior to incorporating it into the dish. The wonderful thing about this, of course, is that it can be done in advance, thus reducing that frantic rushing around the kitchen that always happens when you try to cook more than one Chinese dish at a time.

Here's what you'll need:

Remove any skin from the chicken and cut it into whatever sized pieces the recipe for your final dish calls for (shreds, slices, cubes, etc.). Put the chicken into a mixing bowl, then add the salt and rice wine and stir.

Beat the egg white until the gel is broken - it should not be frothy (this could cause the coating to puff and disintegrate. Add the egg white to the chicken, sprinkle in the cornstarch, and mix well.

Add the tablespoon of oil and stir until smooth (slimy is the texture we're going for here!). Place the bowl in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, so the coating has time to adhere to the meat.

Heat 2 cups of oil in a wok or heavy pan until it is warm, about 275°, or until it foams a cube of bread very slowly. Give the coated chicken a quick stir and scatter in the pieces. Quickly (but gently) stir them to separate them. You should use chopsticks or a wooden spoon for this - a fork would damage the coating. The oil should cover every piece.

If the chicken begins to sizzle, lower the heat immediately; hot oil will make velveted chicken hard and yellow.

Once all the meat has turned white, which only takes about 30 to 45 seconds, immediately strain the chicken, which is now velveted and ready to be stir fried. This can be done some time in advance, and just kept in a covered dish until you're ready to use it. One word of warning, though: don't put velveted chicken into the fridge! It will become hard: not the effect we are looking for!

So, what can you make with your newly velveted chicken? Try Chicken in Fish Fragrance Sauce (no the sauce doesn't taste like fish, it's just a sauce that is sometimes served with fish), or Chiang-Bo Chicken.