Yesterday, while I was in my car, believe it or not, it Graupeled. Wait……it what? It Graupeled. That’s what the weatherman said anyway. A couple of thoughts here: 1) I grew up in the MidWest. I’ve experienced everything from Negative Wind Chills and 2 feet of snow to 100F with 95% humidity. So what the heck is this Graupel – and why have I never heard of it before? And, most importantly, 2) during the graupelling, I realized a bit of sunshine was in my refrigerator at home – this completely craveable and delicious Soy Sauce and Citrus Marinated Chicken, from Bon Appetit! I had put it in the marinade the day before, and just needed to toss it in the oven to roast.?
After roasting it, I discovered that this chicken is so good it is literally difficult to stop eating it. It is flavor perfection – Sweet, Salty, Sour, Savory. What could be better? The gingery-citrusy-garlicky-salty dipping sauce is so good you really could drink it, but please, save some for dipping the chicken or letting it sink into a scoop of jasmine rice. (Or both!)
Now, this recipe does take a bit of planning ahead. The longer the chicken can be in the marinade, the better. I left it a full 24 hours, but you can go up to 48 hours. The marinade it easy, too, not a lot of chopping, just crushing, with a mallet, the ginger and garlic cloves and also some squeezing of citrus fruits. I used a mix of freshly squeezed grapefruit and lime juices to create 1 cup of juice. And the recipe does call for removing the backbone of the chicken and then cutting it in half. I imagine you could use 4-6 bone-in breasts or thighs, as long as they are not too big, which would increase the cook time by 10 minutes or so. But while the chicken is roasting you can easily prepare the sauce and, if you wish, a nice bowl of rice!
As it happened, I looked up the word graupel to see exactly what it is. Apparently, graupel is “soft hail” or “snow pellets” that are produced when supercooled droplets of water (aka, rain) freeze on a falling snowflake. This makes sense because as we were driving, all in the course of a minute or so, it rained, then kind of hailed (graupeled!), then snowed. Craziness! So don’t let a little graupel get in the way of your spectacular dinner! Enjoy!
Soy Sauce and Citrus-Marinated Chicken
The ingredient list seems long, but nothing is too difficult, no chopping is required for the marinade, just some potentially therapeutic smashing and crushing. (!) This flavorful Soy Sauce and Citrus Marinated Chicken is best marinated overnight (and can be up to 2 days). It is topped with a delicious sauce you can use for...
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade:
- 4 Cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 2" piece of ginger, crushed (no need to peel)
- 1 c Fresh citrus juice - use grapefruit, lime, sour orange, use one or any combination
- 1/2 c Soy Sauce
- 1/3 c White vinegar
- 1/4 c Granulated sugar
- 1 3 1/2 - 4 lb chicken, backbone removed, halved
Dipping Sauce and Assembly:
- 1 tsp. Minced lemongrass
- 2 Shallots, halved
- 2 Scallions, dark green tops removed
- 1 Red chile, such as a Fresno
- 4 Garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1 1" piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp. Fish Sauce
- 2 tbsp. Fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp. Granulated Sugar
- 1 Pomelo
- Cilantro sprigs, for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken and Marinate: in a medium bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, citrus juice (I used 3/4 of a grapefruit and about 4 limes), soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Place chicken halves in a large zippered bag and pour in the marinade. Seal the bag, pressing out an air. Chill 12-48 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425F. If using a conventional oven, place rack in the top third of oven. For convection, use middle rack. Remove the chicken from the bag, discarding marinade. Pat dry with paper towels, season with salt.
- Place chicken on a foil-rimmed baking sheet. Roast until deep brown and cooked through, 30-40 minutes. (Mine took 40 mins.)
- While chicken roasts, prepare dipping sauce. Bring 1/2 c water to boil in a microwaveable bowl or cup. Add the minced lemongrass. Let sit until very fragrant, about 8-10 minutes, then strain into a large measuring cup or medium bowl. Set aside to cool.
- Heat a large skillet (cast-iron preferred) over medium-high heat. Toast the shallots, scallions, chile and garlic, stirring occasionally, until dark brown in spots, 8-10 minutes. Let cool. Remove skins from garlic cloves, can coarsely chop garlic with the shallots, scallions and chile. (I partially seeeded the chile to reduce the heat a bit.)
- Add the chopped garlic, shallots, scallions, chile and the chopped ginger to the lemongrass-infused water. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.
- Using a sharp knife, remove the peel and pith from the pomelo. Discard. Cut along the sides of the membranes to release the pomelo segments. Tear the segments in to large pieces and mix with dipping sauce.
- When chicken is done, transfer it to a large platter. Spoon some of the dipping sauce over the chicken. Top with cilantro. Serve with the remaining dipping sauce.
I never knew it was called graupel! That happens all the time where I live in the winter months but I had no idea it had a name. So cool. Also this looks damn tasty! So many good flavours!
Thanks so much! I think this sauce would be perfect for so many things. And, it’s crazy, right? Around winter weather all of our lives and suddenly there’s a new word? Or have we just never discussed graupel?
the sauce!! i’d be tempted to forgo the chicken and just make the sauce to eat over rice and veggies (: also, graupel sounds cool (did not know that was a thing til right now). i was fascinated by hail as a kid (to the point where the one day it hailed in california, i ran to the window and stared at it in favor of ignoring class), so maybe not a surprise that graupel sounds cool to me.
Heather, seems we are “birds of a feather”! That’s exactly how I ate the leftover sauce! Just poured it over the leftover rice! So dang yummy! And, I agree, weather is crazy and fantastic! But California sounds pretty good to me right now, as it is unseasonably cold and windy here. ?❄️