Rooster offering is an indispensable dish in every traditional Tet of the Vietnamese people. When preparing the rooster offering, you need to be fully prepared and make sure that the boiled chicken is beautifully presented in a proper Feng Shui position. Let’s take a look at how to boil the rooster offering below!
How to prepare the rooster offering correctly
Firstly, one of the secrets to boiling a delicious rooster with a shiny golden skin and beautiful shape is to be focused and meticulous throughout the preparation and boiling process. The secret of boiling a beautiful rooster offering lies in 3 main steps: choosing the rooster, slaughtering and shaping the rooster, and boiling the rooster.
How to choose a delicious rooster
– If you want to have a beautiful rooster offering, you must first choose a good rooster. You should choose a male rooster and choose a rooster with fresh red comb, evenly high, smooth feathers, agile movements, full and yellowish breast, with dark yellow areas such as wings, breast, and back; no black spots, blotches, or small legs.
In particular, for ready-to-eat chicken, choose a rooster with naturally light yellow skin, evenly thin all over, firm meat, small fat layer, and little fat in the neck and thigh.
Note: When slaughtering the rooster offering, you must never cut open the belly but instead cut it at the collar to create a beautiful shape and avoid skin tightening. It is advisable to cut off the leg from the drumstick to avoid skin tightening and cracking during boiling.
To create a rooster worship shape, use a sharp knife to cut both sides of the rooster’s neck, insert the wings into the mouth through these two incisions. Be careful and skillful to prevent the wings from bending or breaking but still pointing outward.
If you prefer a flying rooster shape, gently bend the two wings towards the back, tie the joint of the two wings together firmly. Pay attention to the moderate tightness to avoid creating scars or tearing the skin after boiling.
How to boil a delicious and beautiful rooster offering
Put the rooster in a deep pot with the abdomen facing downwards, along with crushed ginger, onions, and a little salt. Pour enough water to cover the rooster and place it on the stove. Putting the rooster in the pot while the water is still cold helps the chicken gradually cook from the outside in, without cracking the skin. If the rooster is frozen, you must completely thaw it before boiling.
In particular, you should note that the part where the belly skin touches the bottom of the pot is very susceptible to cracking, so the experience is to place the rooster in a deep bowl before putting it into the pot, both to shape the rooster offering and ensure a beautiful and crack-free skin.
At the same time, while boiling the rooster offering, everyone wants the rooster offering to have a golden skin color, not sticking to the residues, and not having an unpleasant smell, so you should boil the chicken heart and gizzard in a separate small pot, not boiling them together with the festival rooster.
When boiling the rooster offering, adjust the heat to medium, slightly open the lid, remove all the foam when it boils. After boiling for 5 minutes, turn off the stove and let the chicken soak in the pot for about 15-20 minutes, so that the chicken skin does not shrink and crack. To keep the skin plump and shiny without discoloration, after the chicken is cooked, let it cool and then immerse it in boiling water with a few pieces of ice.
Note: There is a small secret to make the chicken skin shiny, golden yellow. You can mix chicken fat with a little turmeric juice, spread a thin layer all over the surface of the chicken.
