GHOST CHICKEN SALAD

SOURCE: GEORGIA FREEDMAN. COOKING SOUTH OF THE CLOUDS: RECIPES AND STORIES FROM CHINA'S YUNNAN PROVINCE.

Jingpo communities practice the ritual of slaughtering and offering chickens to departed souls, ancestral spirits, and glorified deities. When the ceremony ends, the poached chicken would have cooled down and become manageable enough for human hands to easily tear the bird apart into fine shreds and quickly infuse the meat in a zesty blend of cilantro, culantro, chiles, and lime juice, thus coining a phantasmally-sounding name to a corporeal salad for the supernatural world. By Yunnanese Jingpo tradition, the poultry breed of choice is the ebonic Silkie, which can be commercially procured in Asian specialty stores, to produce the gamey flavor and necromantic aesthetic. This recipe comes from Shang Qinzhen, a Jingpo widow from Mengwen who runs the White Flower Rural Foods Restaurant, and she spikes the salad dressing with a secret ingredient of freshly picked and unaged Pu’er leaves native to Yunnan for an unrivaled depth and complexity of flavors. In the absence of Pu’er, reconstituted Chinese green tea leaves will also work as a substitute.

Ingredients

2 1/4 pounds/1.1 kg whole Silkie chicken

1 whole knob ginger weighing 1 ounce/30 grams, unpeeled, washed, and smashed with the flat side of a cleaver

2 scallions, both white and parts

5 teaspoons/30 grams salt

1 cup/120 grams fresh and unaged Pu’er tea leaves OR 3/4 cup/25 grams dried green tea leaves like Longjing, soaked overnight in cold water

3 cups/50 grams coarsely chopped cilantro, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results

2 tablespoons/6 grams culantro, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results, torn into 1-inch/2.5-cm pieces

1 teaspoon/2 grams dried chili flakes

1/3 cup/80 mL freshly squeezed lime juice

Specific Equipment

Large pot

Small fine-mesh strainer

Wire rack set over a tray

Mixing bowl

OPTIONAL: Banana leaf

Serves 6

Instructions

1. Place the chicken, ginger, scallions, and 4 teaspoons/24 grams salt in a large pot. Fill the pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat.

2. Skim off and discard any scum that floats over the top surface of the stock with a small fine-mesh strainer. Reduce the heat to low and poach the chicken, uncovered, for 1 hour or until the chicken is evenly cooked.

3. Remove the chicken from the pot and cool to room temperature by setting the chicken onto a wire rack set over a tray about 1 to 2 hours. Reserve the stock for another use.

4. Remove the chicken meat from the bones using bare hands. Shred the meat into thin strips, discarding any fat and connective tissue. Set the chicken aside in a mixing bowl.

5. Drain the tea leaves and season them over the chicken. Season the chicken with cilantro, culantro, chili flakes, and 1 teaspoon/6 grams salt and toss the mixture until well-blended.

6. Drizzle the chicken mixture with tablespoonfuls of lime juice and toss everything until well-blended. Line a large serving platter with banana leaf, if desired, and spoon out the salad onto the banana leaf. Chill the salad for 2 to 3 hours before serving.