Char Sui style chicken

Char Sui is Chinese Barbequed Pork. It's traditionally produced in a special closet - with slices of pork hung over a slow, open fire. I've modded the Char Sui cooking technique for use in a modern oven, and - in this recipe, I've substituted a whole chicken for pork strips.

Method

Throw the chicken, soy sauce, sesame seed oil and honey into a gallon-sized zip-lock bag. Massage in the marinade well. Store the bag in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 240-250 degrees F. Place an oven rack on the top-most rung. Put a metal pan, half-full of hot water on the floor of the oven.

Shake off the excess marinade from the chicken. Drive a metal (shish kebob) skewer through the upper-most part of the breast (through the front, flesh-side). Bend 2 trussing needles into "S" hooks. Hook each side of the skewer with the lower side of each "S" hook. Hang the bird on the grate of the oven with the top-sides of the hooks, directly over the water pan.

(Keep an eye on the water in the pan. It will evaporate. Fill it with hot water, when needed.)

Slowly roast until finished (3-4 hours). Carefully brush with excess marinade every hour. After removing the chicken from the oven, season it - aggressively - with salt and black pepper. Drizzle with a little cayenne pepper oil (recipe follows). Allow the bird to rest for 10 minutes. Hack it into 2 inch pieces with a clever.

Cayenne pepper oil
3 cups peanut oil
3/4 cup ground cayenne pepper

Pour the peanut oil into a heavy, non-aluminum pan. Over low heat, bring the oil to 200 degrees F. Check the temperature with a deep-fat thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the cayenne powder and cool to room temperature. Pour the dissolved powder/oil into a container with a tightly fitting lid. Allow the oil to mature for a week. Warm the oil - again - and strain it through a funnel containing 2, paper coffee filters into a clean glass jar.

notes

Store bought hot pepper oil may be substituted for the cayenne pepper oil.