Dak-jjim (닭찜, Soy-Braised Chicken)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 4 to 5 quart heavy pot or Dutch oven with lid
• •Fine sieve for mushroom soaking liquid
• •Tongs or long cooking chopsticks
• •Instant-read thermometer, optional but useful

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the mushrooms

   Put the dried shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup warm water and weight them with a small bowl so they stay submerged. Soak 20 minutes, then squeeze them gently, trim off the tough stems, and halve the caps. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve and save 3/4 cup. That liquid gives the braise depth without making it taste heavy.

   Do not pour from the bottom of the soaking bowl. Shiitake often leaves grit there, and one careless pour can make a careful braise sandy.
2. 2

   Blanch the chicken

   Trim away loose yellow fat and any bone fragments from the chicken. Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a large pot, add the chicken pieces, and boil 3 minutes, just until the outside turns opaque and foam rises. Drain, rinse the pot, and rinse the chicken pieces quickly in a bowl of warm water. This is not to cook the chicken. It cleans the surface so the soy sauce can make a clear brown braise instead of a muddy one.

3. 3

   Mix the sauce

   In a bowl, stir together the reserved 3/4 cup mushroom soaking liquid, 3/4 cup water or unsalted stock, ganjang, cheongju, brown sugar, rice syrup, grated onion, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. Six tablespoons of soy sauce is enough for this amount of chicken because the sauce will reduce. If you start too salty, there is nowhere honest to go.

4. 4

   Start the braise

   Put the blanched chicken in a wide heavy pot and pour the sauce over it. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower to a steady simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Turn the pieces once or twice. Covered heat tenderizes the meat first; the shine comes later.

5. 5

   Add the roots

   Add the potatoes, carrot, shiitake caps, optional chestnuts, and the white scallion lengths. Tuck the vegetables down into the sauce, cover again, and simmer 15 to 18 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly tender when pierced. The potato pieces are large on purpose. Cut them small and they break before the chicken is ready.

6. 6

   Reduce the sauce

   Add the onion wedges, uncover the pot, and raise the heat to medium. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes, spooning the sauce over the chicken and vegetables every few minutes, until the sauce has reduced to about 3/4 cup and coats the spoon. The chicken should be cooked through, with no pink at the bone, or 74°C on an instant-read thermometer. This last uncovered cooking is what makes dak-jjim dak-jjim, not boiled chicken in soy water.

   Do not chase color with dark soy sauce. Reduction gives the proper gloss, and too much dark soy makes the dish look finished before it tastes finished.
7. 7

   Finish and rest

   Turn off the heat. Stir in the toasted sesame oil, scatter over the green scallion slices and sesame seeds, and let the pot rest 5 minutes before serving. That short rest lets the sauce settle back into the chicken and potatoes. Serve with hot rice, kimchi, and one clean vegetable banchan so the table has balance.

Chef Tips

• •Bone-in chicken is best here. The bones give the sauce body, and the pieces stay moist through the full braise. If you use boneless thighs, cut the vegetable pieces smaller and begin checking the meat after 20 minutes total cooking.
• •Use Korean ganjang if you can. If your soy sauce is very dark or sharply salty, start with 5 tablespoons, then add 1 teaspoon more near the end only if the reduced sauce tastes flat.
• •Chestnuts make the dish feel more festive, but they are not required. Potatoes and carrots are enough for a weeknight pot. 시대가 바뀌면 음식도 바뀌어야 해요. When times change, food must change too.
• •The safe shortcut is buying a chicken already cut into braising pieces. The unsafe shortcut is skipping the blanching or rushing the final reduction. One saves time; the other changes the dish.
• •Keep gochujang out of this pot. If you want a spicy chicken stew, cook dak-bokkeum-tang. If you want Andong jjimdak, add the glass noodles and chilies and call it by its right name.

Advance Preparation

• •The shiitake can be soaked and the sauce mixed up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate the mushrooms and strained soaking liquid together, and keep the sauce covered.
• •The chicken can be blanched up to 1 day ahead, cooled quickly, and refrigerated. This turns the final cooking into a quieter weeknight job.
• •Cooked dak-jjim keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently with 2 to 3 tablespoons water because the potatoes drink up the sauce overnight.
• •Do not freeze the finished dish if you care about the potatoes. They turn grainy. Freeze only the cooked chicken and sauce, then add fresh vegetables when reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 460g)