Water & Steam

Soy-Sauce / White-Cut Poaching (Jin / Bai Qie)

Gently poaching chicken in soy-master stock or seasoned water to keep it silky and just-cooked.

This Cantonese poaching family covers soy-sauce chicken, simmered or steeped in a dark soy and aromatic master stock, and white-cut chicken, poached in barely-trembling water then chilled for tender, jelly-set flesh. The bird is cooked at a sub-boil and often steeped off the heat to finish gently, preserving moisture. The poaching liquid is frequently saved and reused as a flavor-building master stock.

Poaching chicken by the residual-heat method — called jìn (浸) in Cantonese kitchens — is one of the most reliable ways to keep the flesh silk-smooth and the juices locked in. The white-cut version (bái qiē) is the purest expression of the method: bring the seasoned water to a full boil, submerge the bird, then cut the heat entirely so the meat finishes in the falling-temperature bath. The soy-sauce (chǐ yóu) version applies the same gentle-heat principle to a dark master stock, holding the liquid at a bare tremble throughout the cook.

In both cases the proteins set slowly rather than seizing, the meat stays tender, and a delicate gel forms just under the skin. The white-cut branch is austere — water, ginger, scallion, a pinch of salt — and exists to show off a fine three-yellow chicken. The soy-sauce branch depends on a well-built, well-aged master stock that both cooks the bird and gives it the deep mahogany glaze Cantonese restaurants are famous for.

The technique is forgiving, but temperature discipline is what separates a textbook bouncy bird from a rubbery, overcooked one.

Difficulty: Medium

Types & varieties

White-cut (白切 / 白斩)

Plain salted water with ginger and scallion only; flavor comes from the dipping sauce (ginger-scallion oil, or yellow-bean / sweet-bean sauce 豆瓣酱 or 海鲜酱).

Soy-sauce poach (豉油浸鸡)

Steeped in soy-sauce master stock; bird takes on a deep mahogany color and is brushed to a gloss.

Master-stock braise (卤水鸡 lǔ shuǐ jī)

A more heavily spiced cousin across Cantonese and Teochew kitchens; same gentle-heat principle but the stock carries cassia, star anise, sand ginger (沙姜), dried tangerine peel, and a sachet of TCM aromatics.

Salt-poached chicken (盐焗鸡 yán jú jī, Hakka)

Related but distinct: bird is rubbed with salt and steamed or buried in hot salt; silky texture is the shared goal.

Drunken chicken (醉鸡 zuì jī)

Steeped chicken chilled in Shaoxing or baijiu-based liquor; the gentle poach is the same first step.

Three-yellow chicken (三黄鸡)

Not a separate technique but the breed standard for all of the above; acceptable substitutes are quality free-range or silky fowl (乌鸡).

How to do it

1
Select and prep the bird
Use a fresh (never frozen) three-yellow or quality free-range chicken of 1.2–1.8 kg. Remove any pin feathers, singe over a flame to remove any remaining fine hairs, and rinse under cold running water. Pat dry inside and out. Trim the tail oil gland and any large loose fat near the cavity. Leave the bird whole with the skin intact.
2
Prepare the poaching liquid
White-cut: choose a pot just large enough to hold the bird snugly. Cover with cold water to 2.5 cm above the bird. Add 4–5 thick slices of smashed old ginger and the white parts of 2 scallions. Salt lightly (about 1 tsp per liter) only after the first dip, not now. Soy-sauce: simmer 20 minutes in 1.5 L water with 200 ml light soy sauce, 30 ml dark soy sauce (for color only), 80 g rock sugar, 60 ml Shaoxing wine, a thumb of smashed ginger, 2 scallions, 1 star anise, 1 small cassia stick, 3 Sichuan peppercorns, and an optional strip of dried tangerine peel. Reduce to a bare tremble before adding the bird.
3
Bring the water to a full boil
Heat the liquid to a rolling boil. Putting the bird into lukewarm or even warm water overcooks the outside before the inside catches up and gives a flabby, torn skin.
4
Three dips, three lifts (white-cut)
Hold the bird by the cavity or neck end. Lower it into the boiling water for 3 seconds, lift out for 3 seconds. Repeat three times. This contracts the skin so it grips the meat through the long steep and does not tear when you lift the bird out.
5
Submerge and cut the heat (white-cut)
Lower the bird fully so the liquid covers it by 2.5 cm. Return the pot to the merest tremble — about 80–85 °C — then turn off the heat entirely. Cover with a tight lid. Steep 35–40 minutes for a 1.5 kg bird, plus or minus about 5 minutes per 250 g of weight.
6
Bare-simmer the soy-sauce bird
For the soy-sauce stock, keep the heat on at the lowest possible setting so the surface barely moves — never a rolling boil. Add the bird, bring back to a bare tremble, and hold 20–35 minutes, turning it every 8–10 minutes so it colors evenly on all sides. Lift out when the thigh reaches 73–75 °C.
7
Test for doneness
Pierce the thickest part of the thigh at the joint with a chopstick; the juice should run completely clear, never rosy. With an instant thermometer, read 73–75 °C at the thigh. The breast will be at 70–72 °C — pull the bird out now, because the breast is the first place to dry out.
8
Ice-shock the white-cut bird
Lift the bird directly from the steep into a bowl of ice water. Leave 15–30 minutes until fully cold. This thermal shock contracts the skin against the meat and is what gives the prized bouncy, jelly-like skin. Drain and pat dry. (The cold bird can be returned to room temperature for serving later without losing the texture.)
9
Glaze the soy-sauce bird
Lift the bird from the master stock and rest on a rack. Brush generously with warm, strained master stock or a thin layer of sesame oil, and let air-dry 5 minutes for the glossy mahogany finish that defines the dish.
10
Rest and chop
Rest the bird at room temperature at least 10 minutes — cutting hot chicken squeezes out the juices that should stay under the skin. With a heavy cleaver, chop through the neck first, then the wings, then the leg-thigh joints (cut through the middle of each segment so bone and meat stay together), and finally the breast into 4–5 cm pieces. Arrange skin-up on a plate and drizzle a little of the chopped-bird juices back over the top.
11
Serve with the right sauce
White-cut: ginger-scallion oil (minced ginger + scallion + hot neutral oil + pinch of salt) or sweet bean sauce (海鲜酱, or yellow-bean sauce 豆瓣酱) loosened with a little sesame oil. Soy-sauce: a small dish of the master stock reduced by a third, and the same ginger-scallion oil for dipping. A bowl of hot rice is the traditional companion.

The 'jin' principle

The defining move in both white-cut and soy-sauce poaching is the off-heat steep (jìn, 浸). A chicken's thigh needs to reach 73–75 °C for the connective tissue to soften and the meat to come cleanly off the bone, but the breast is a thinner cut and dries out well before the thigh is done. By submerging a room-temperature bird in liquid that is just below a boil, then killing the heat, the cooking gradient evens out: the breast pauses at its target while the thigh slowly catches up in the cooling liquid. A tight lid matters — it traps heat and keeps the steep temperature from falling too fast, so the bird cooks through evenly. Skip the steep and you are back to a conventional poach, which is what produces the stringy, waterlogged birds that give this method a bad name.

Building and keeping a master stock

The soy-sauce version rises or falls on the lǎo lǔ (老卤, 'old brine'). A working stock starts the same way as the braise: water, light and dark soy, rock sugar, Shaoxing wine, ginger, scallion, and a small sachet of star anise, cassia, Sichuan peppercorn, and dried tangerine peel. After the chicken comes out, the stock is strained, skimmed of fat and scum, brought back to a boil briefly, then cooled and stored. Cantonese kitchens top it up with fresh aromatics and a little soy and sugar before each use; well-kept stocks can run for years and pick up depth from every bird, duck, pig's trotter, and basket of hard-boiled eggs they have ever held. The single non-negotiable rule: never let a mature stock boil hard. A rolling boil drives off aromatics, concentrates salt past balance, and turns the stock cloudy and bitter.

Strain through a fine sieve after every use, then reboil briefly to sterilize.
Store at room temperature only if you plan to reboil every 2–3 days; otherwise refrigerate and use within about a week, or freeze in 500 ml portions for longer keeping.
Refresh the sachet of aromatics every 3–4 uses; the soy and sugar hold up much longer.
If the stock tastes flat, add a splash more light soy rather than salt — the soy adds umami as well as salinity.
Skim the surface fat only if you want a clearer glaze; leave a thin layer for flavor and to keep the stock from oxidizing.

Serving and accompaniments

White-cut is most often served at room temperature the same day it is cooked, though it is also commonly chilled. The classic dipping sauces are ginger-scallion oil (minced ginger and scallion bloomed in hot neutral oil, finished with a pinch of salt) and sweet bean sauce (海鲜酱, or yellow-bean sauce 豆瓣酱) loosened with a little sesame oil. Soy-sauce chicken is more often served warm, with a small dish of the master stock reduced by a third spooned over the chopped pieces, and a separate bowl of the same ginger-scallion oil for dipping. A bowl of hot rice underneath is not optional in a Cantonese home — the juices and glaze are the sauce for the rice.

Common uses

Whole poached chicken, chopped bone-in and arranged skin-up for Cantonese cold plates and banquet starters.Cooled and sliced over a bowl of hot rice with the poaching liquid or master stock spooned over for a quick main (the soy-sauce version is especially good this way).Base for clear chicken congee (鸡粥) and chicken-noodle soups — the steeping liquid becomes the broth.Filling for bao, rice-paper rolls, or banh mi-style sandwiches (white-cut, cold, with cucumber and cilantro).Leftover poaching liquid as a quick poaching medium for shrimp, dumplings, or blanched greens.Master stock reused for hard-boiled eggs, firm tofu, pig's trotter, or duck — each addition deepens the stock.Shredded cold chicken salads dressed with sesame oil, soy, and scallion.Drunken chicken: chill the poached bird in a Shaoxing or baijiu-based liquor with a little salt and ginger.

Tips & pitfalls

Use a fresh, never-frozen bird. Freezing ruptures cell walls and the meat turns cottony no matter how gently you cook it.
Bring the liquid to a full rolling boil before lowering the bird in. Tepid water overcooks the skin before the inside is done.
Do the 'three dips, three lifts' (三提三浸) for white-cut. This tightens the skin so it does not tear during the long steep.
Keep the steep at 80–85 °C — a bare tremble. A rolling boil pushes protein out, clouds the stock, and turns the meat chalky.
Test doneness at the thigh joint, not the breast. The breast is always done first; overcooking the breast while waiting for the thigh is the single most common mistake.
Ice-bath the white-cut bird the moment it comes out, even if you plan to serve it warm later. The thermal shock is what gives the bouncy, gelatinous skin.
For soy-sauce, dissolve the rock sugar fully before adding the soy sauces, and skim and strain the stock after every use. Never let a mature master stock boil.
Rest the bird 10 minutes before chopping, and use a cleaver, not a knife — a single confident blow keeps the skin and flesh together on each segment.

Good to know

Chinese names: 白切鸡 (bái qiē jī) for the clear-water version; 豉油鸡 (chǐ yóu jī) for the soy-sauce version; 浸 (jìn, 'to steep') is the shared residual-heat method
Cuisine: Cantonese / Lingnan (Guangdong)
Method: Bare-simmer or steep-poach: full boil to submerge, then off-heat residual cooking (white-cut) or lowest possible simmer (soy-sauce)
Target internal temperature: 73–75 °C / 165 °F at the thickest part of the thigh; breast finishes 2–3 °C lower
Doneness cue: Chopstick at the thigh joint releases clear liquid; meat near the bone is opaque
Steep time (1.4–1.8 kg bird): 30–45 minutes off-heat for white-cut; 20–35 minutes at a bare tremble for soy-sauce
Water coverage: Liquid should cover the bird by at least 2.5 cm / 1 inch
Classic bird: Three-yellow chicken (三黄鸡 sān huáng jī): yellow beak, feet, and feathers; 1.2–1.8 kg; yellow skin and a thin layer of yellow fat
Finishing step: White-cut: ice-bath 15–30 minutes to crisp the skin; soy-sauce: brush with warm strained stock or sesame oil, air-dry briefly for gloss
Difficulty: Easy to intermediate — forgiving on timing, demanding on temperature control