Hakka Salt Baked Chicken
Kim Moi 's Juicy Salt Baked Chicken

This recipe is inspired by the salt baked chicken from Ipoh. The salt baked chicken from Ipoh is simply the best in the world.
I have cracked the Ipoh recipe and made it better! 鹽焗雞
Send me an email if you have improvements or comments. casey@aceblaster.com.

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The three secrets of my recipe that make it out standing are:

Brining Solution so you don' have to pack the chicken in a lot of rock salt but still have the same salty taste.
Dong Quai 当归 (traditional Chinese: 當歸) scientific name Angelica sinensis or female ginseng is the secret ingredient that adds taste and aroma to the baked chicken. Dong Quai are cheap and can be bought at any provision store.
Liquid Smoke gives the baked chicken the smoky aroma.

What is liquid smoke?
My preferred brand is Wright's Hickory Liquid Smoke. You can purchase this liquid smoke at Cold Storage but unfortunately they are selling them so cheap that they are often out of stock. So if you find them purchase a few bottles at a time as a 3.5 oz bottle is only $6.00 at Cold Storage. Whereas it is $50 for 2 bottles at Lazada. Get a few bottles if you can find them at Cold Storage as they go fast. It cost 5 to 10 times more if you purchase them online.

There are 3 recommended type of chickens you can use:

Small 500 gm roasting Chicken from Sheng Siong or Fairprice. Just nice for 2 person to share.
Spring chickens from Cold Storage or any local supermarket in Singapore.
Tell the store manager at Cold Storage two days in advance as they usually only have a maximum of 3 spring chickens a day in the store.
Capon Chicken from Cold Storage is quite large and can weigh up to a minimum of 1.5 kg each. Capon Chickens are very tender, juicy and full of flavor.

Brine your chicken before baking.
Brine solution this is the secret sauce.
With this technique you do not need to packed your chicken with a lot of salt to give it a salty taste.

1. To 4 litres of ice water (approximately two litres per spring chicken)
2. Add 1 cup of fine table salt (or 1- 1 ½ cups of granular salt)
3. Add ½ cup of white sugar (could be up to ¾ cup)
4. Add 4 strips of Dong Quai to the brine solution to imbibe the nice Dong Quai aroma into the chicken.

Immerse spring chickens in cold brine solution in a cooking pot for 4 hours

Put a couple of freezer packs into brine solution to keep the brine cool during the immersion and avoid food poisoning.

Don’t add ice as it will dilute the brine solution.

This section is under construction.

The cavity of the chicken can be filled with stuffing. A good choice would be to used flavored glutinous rice to catch the rich drippings from the juicy chicken when baked.

Preparing your chicken for baking.

After 4 hours, remove the chicken from the brining solution and dry the outside and inside of the chicken with paper towels. You don’t want to wrap a wet chicken with the parchment paper as it will cause the parchment paper to tear easily.

With two fingers, undermine the skin in the breast and thigh area creating pockets to receive condiments of Dong Quai and liquid smoke for better penetration of the condiments into the meat. Do not place condiments on skin as the flavour will not penetrate into the meat.
Put 2 pieces of Dong Quai in each pocket and 2 more pieces in the cavity. You can reuse the 4 slices of Dong Quai from the brining solution.

Use two pieces of parchment paper, one small to catch the juice and a large one (see left diagram). Fold the large parchment paper into a package and secure the package with strings.

Baking your chicken

Bake at 200 C for 40 to 45 minutes in an oven or use an air fryer (see below). Less for smaller chicken. Do not overcook.

Remove from the oven and wait for about 15 to 20 minutes before serving as the chicken will continue to cook in the package after it is removed from the oven.

Best eaten cool or cold as a gelatinous layer will form under the skin. Just like chicken for chicken rice.

When the chicken is prepared well it is juicy with a yellowish sheen.

Enjoy this secret

Hakka Salt Baked Chicken Recipe

Kim Moi 's Juicy Salt Baked Chicken

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Traditionally the Hakkas make this chicken in a regular wok with a lid. Rock salt is first cooked in the wok, then a well is made in the middle of the hot salt. The wrapped chicken is then put in the well. More salt is then piled around the chicken and overthetop. The wok is then covered with the wok lid. This is a long tedious process. You can now enjoy the same dish in half the time and with a lot less effort using my recipe. Here is a video on the tedious traditional preparation.

This is a Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer that you can link to an app on your phone or tablet to control the cooking settings.

Cooking in an air fryer

You can skip the parchment paper when using an air fryer.

Put your chicken in on a small dish to catch the dripping juice.

Roll oiled chicken in the seasoning and put in your air fryer basket. Cook at 180C for 18-20 mins, turning after 10 mins. To check if it is cooked, insert a temperature thermometer and it should read 70C

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