Cui Pi You Lin Ji (Crispy Hot-Oil Chicken)
Fried chicken with sauce is a fake! In the real world, "oil" is "drizzle"
Description
Japanese You Lin Ji is just 'fried chicken bites with a sweet vinegar scallion sauce'. Authentic Cantonese You Lin Ji uses absolutely ZERO batter. A bone-in half chicken is glazed with maltose, air-dried, and held over a wok while smoking-hot oil is repeatedly 'ladled/poured (Lin)' over it until the skin crisps like glass.
Restaurants serving Cui Pi You Lin Ji (Crispy Hot-Oil Chicken)
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On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Bone-in whole/half chicken
- Maltose syrup
- Red vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Black vinegar
- Scallion
- Ginger
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe & Differences]
- (Prep) Marinate a bone-in whole/half chicken in scallion, ginger, star anise, salt for hours.
- (Skin Treatment) Scald the chicken with boiling water to tighten the skin. Brush heavily with a mixture of 'Maltose and Red Vinegar', then hang it in a drafty place for hours/overnight until bone-dry (absolute requirement for glass-like skin).
- (Frying Difference) Do not submerge in oil like Japanese Karaage. Hold the chicken in the air over a wok with one hand. With the other hand, repeatedly ladle 180°C+ smoking-hot oil entirely over the bird (You Lin).
- Once the skin turns golden and sounds hollow/hard when tapped, use a heavy cleaver to chop it boldly straight through the bone.
- Serve with a dipping sauce of soy, black vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, scallion, and ginger.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Roasted aroma of shatteringly crisp skin、Scallion soy sauce
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Japanese You Lin Ji (delicious, but lacks the glass-skin and bone umami)
Pairing
Jasmine Tea / Beer
Trivia
[Trivia] The cooking method is literally the name of the dish: 'Lin' (ladle/pour) 'You' (oil). To save time, Japanese restaurants substituted 'regular fried chicken bites', resulting in a completely different dish taking root.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] Because it is chopped bone-in, put the whole piece in your mouth. Enjoy the glass-shattering skin and juicy meat, suck the intense umami around the bone, and then spit the bone out.
Allergen
Chicken, Wheat, Soybeans (Sauce)