When I was the butcher at Tabla for Top Chef Floyd Cardoz, I thought it would be a piece of cake. Oh boy, was I wrong! Probably one of the most demanding jobs in the kitchen. Every morning, I would come in to see a huge pile of various meats, fish, and poultry that needed to be organized, cleaned, and portioned to be cooked for lunch and dinner service.
My favorite item to butcher was their chicken roulade. Basically, you take the two sides of the chicken apart, and you would have the left and right side separated for you to work with. I would place the chicken breast on top of the dark meat, and roll it into a cylinder shape.
I have always wanted to use this technique for a Chinese dish. Since Shorty Tang & Sons has become somewhat popular to my amazement, I thought it would be a great opportunity to come up with Chinese-American inspired dishes for a pop-up, catering, or a dinner event in the future.
Three-cup chicken ( Sanbeiji, 三杯雞) is a classic Chinese dish consist of a cup of soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. Cook the chicken on low heat for 20 minutes and when the sauce is 90% reduce.