White cut chicken: a whole chicken poached in barely-moving water so the meat stays silky, then chopped on the bone and eaten with ginger-scallion oil. The Cantonese measure of a kitchen, because nothing masks the chicken.

Why poach at a whisper?

A bare simmer keeps the meat tender and juicy; a rolling boil tightens the fibers and turns the skin rubbery. Gentle heat is the whole technique.

What do you serve with white cut chicken?

Ginger-scallion oil — grated ginger and scallion whites hit with hot salted oil — spooned over the chopped pieces. That is the classic and the only sauce it needs.

White Cut Chicken (Baak Cit Gai)

Name: White Cut Chicken (Baak Cit Gai)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, 1.4–1.6 kg, giblets removed, the skin intact and unbroken; 1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing wine, 2 tsp (10 g) salt, rubbed over and in; A pot of water to cover, with 6 slices ginger (30 g), 3 spring onions (40 g), 1 tsp (5 g) salt; A bowl of iced water, ready at the poach's end; 60 g ginger, grated or minced fine; 40 g spring onion greens, minced; ½ tsp (3 g) salt; 3 tbsp (45 ml) oil, heated to the first smoke — poured over at the service's moment

Chinese · Easy · Serves 4

The Cantonese kitchen's plainest masterpiece and the chicken's own ultimate test: a whole bird poached at the barest shiver and served barely adorned — the skin's silk, the flesh's juice, the ginger-scallion dip's bright bite — the white cut chicken whose whole argument is that nothing hides. The dish the Cantonese table uses to judge a cook and a chicken alike; the technique is the cold-start poach's patience (the salt-baked and Hainanese records' shared law) and the ice dip's skin doctrine, the plainness itself the discipline.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The chicken

The ice dip (the skin's doctrine)

The ginger-scallion dip (the dish's one adornment)

poured over at the service's moment

- The poach's plan and the shiver's law: the chicken rubbed with the wine and salt and rested 20 minutes; the pot's water (with the ginger and spring onions) brought to the bare shiver before the bird's entry — the water's whole argument the 85–90 °C tremble, the boil the rubber's own certain end. The cold-start doctrine's shared law runs the Hainanese record's (#16) full rice argument; this record's is the plainer, purer poach. - The ice bath's readiness and its one purpose: the iced water's bowl beside the pot — the poached bird's plunge the skin's own tight silk (the heat's contraction snapped at the cold), the skin's gelatinous quality the Cantonese table's own prized argument.

Step 1. The poach — 30 minutes at the shiver, the heat-off's patience. The chicken lowered to the shivering water breast-up, the pot held at the tremble 10 minutes, and the flame off with the lid on — the bird cooking in the falling water's patience 20 minutes more (the water's thermal bank the salt-baked record's shared doctrine), the bird turned once at the 15-minute mark for the even argument. Checkpoint — at the 30-minute mark the thigh's thickest joint runs 74 °C at the probe's check and the juices at the cavity's drain run clear — the flesh's own window between the raw's pink and the over-poached's wool, and the shiver's discipline the whole clock.

Step 2. The plunge and the skin's silk. The poached bird lifted from the water and plunged straight to the iced bath's full 5 minutes — the skin's sudden contraction to the tight, silken film, the flesh's juices set at their juiciest. Checkpoint — the skin's proof at the ice bath's end: the surface runs the tight, slightly tacky silk with the faint yellow-white of the properly set bird — the gelatin's own argument at the finger's press, and the flesh's first carve the juice's proof.

Step 3. The chop and the dip's sizzle. The bird chopped through the bone to the Chinese table's bite pieces (the cleaver's confident work — the pieces' even argument the carver's own discipline), and the dip finished at the service's moment: the smoking oil poured over the ginger, spring onion and salt — the sizzle the dish's one announcement. Checkpoint — the eating test: the skin's silk and the flesh's juice at the bone's nearest piece, the ginger-scallion's bright bite the frame — the plain poach's whole flavour at the chicken's own quality, and the dip the light that proves the bird. Chef’s Note — the ginger-scallion dip's smoking-oil pour is the one adornment's own ceremony and the dip canon's shared law: the oil taken to the first smoke (roughly 200 °C) and poured over the minced aromatics at the moment's service — the sizzle cooking the ginger and onion's raw edge to the bright, pungent condiment the plain bird's own frame. The same dip's pour runs the salt-baked chicken's record (#64) and the Beggar's table's plainer cousin; the white cut's plainer bird wants the dip's ginger the heaviest hand of the family.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

The poach: the shiver's law, the 74 °C thigh, the clear juices' drain.
The plunge: the ice's full 5 minutes, the skin's tight silk, the juice's set.
The dip: the smoking pour at the service's moment, the sizzle's brightness.

Finish & Plate

The chopped pieces laid to the platter's neat argument, the skin's silk up, and the sizzling dip at the side — the plain bird's own presentation, and the table's first piece the cook's own examination. The plain rice's bowl the quiet companion, and the poaching liquid the congee's or the soup's finest dividend.

White Cut Chicken (Baak Cit Gai)

Prep: 20 minutes, plus cooling · Cook: 50 minutes · Total: About 1 hour 30 minutes · Serves 4

Ingredients

The chicken

1 whole chicken, 1.4–1.6 kg, giblets removed, the skin intact and unbroken
1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing wine, 2 tsp (10 g) salt, rubbed over and in
A pot of water to cover, with 6 slices ginger (30 g), 3 spring onions (40 g), 1 tsp (5 g) salt

The ice dip (the skin's doctrine)

A bowl of iced water, ready at the poach's end

The ginger-scallion dip (the dish's one adornment)

60 g ginger, grated or minced fine
40 g spring onion greens, minced
½ tsp (3 g) salt
3 tbsp (45 ml) oil, heated to the first smoke — poured over at the service's moment

Instructions

The poach — 30 minutes at the shiver, the heat-off's patience. The chicken lowered to the shivering water breast-up, the pot held at the tremble 10 minutes, and the flame off with the lid on — the bird cooking in the falling water's patience 20 minutes more (the water's thermal bank the salt-baked record's shared doctrine), the bird turned once at the 15-minute mark for the even argument. Checkpoint — at the 30-minute mark the thigh's thickest joint runs 74 °C at the probe's check and the juices at the cavity's drain run clear — the flesh's own window between the raw's pink and the over-poached's wool, and the shiver's discipline the whole clock.
The plunge and the skin's silk. The poached bird lifted from the water and plunged straight to the iced bath's full 5 minutes — the skin's sudden contraction to the tight, silken film, the flesh's juices set at their juiciest. Checkpoint — the skin's proof at the ice bath's end: the surface runs the tight, slightly tacky silk with the faint yellow-white of the properly set bird — the gelatin's own argument at the finger's press, and the flesh's first carve the juice's proof.
The chop and the dip's sizzle. The bird chopped through the bone to the Chinese table's bite pieces (the cleaver's confident work — the pieces' even argument the carver's own discipline), and the dip finished at the service's moment: the smoking oil poured over the ginger, spring onion and salt — the sizzle the dish's one announcement. Checkpoint — the eating test: the skin's silk and the flesh's juice at the bone's nearest piece, the ginger-scallion's bright bite the frame — the plain poach's whole flavour at the chicken's own quality, and the dip the light that proves the bird.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Flesh woolly at the bone	The boil's excess, or the clock's over-run	The shiver's discipline; the 74 °C pull at the probe
Skin loose and flaccid	The ice bath skipped or rushed	The plunge's full 5 minutes at the poach's immediate end
Dip's bite raw and harsh	The oil under-heated	The first smoke's oil, poured at the service's moment

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The chopped bird serves the platter's hour and keeps 2 days refrigerated — the cold white cut the lunch table's own quiet argument, the dip made fresh at each service. The poaching liquid (the ginger-scented broth) is the congee's base and the noodle soup's dividend — the plain bird's own second life. - The poach's shared law runs the family's canon: the Hainanese record's (#16) rice-scented version and the salt-baked's (#64) salt-pot argument — the same cold-start doctrine's three registers. The soy-scallion's second dip (the light soy's pour with the oil's drizzle) is the other school's honest frame. - The canon's seat: the Cantonese poach canon's plainest master — the shiver's patience and the ice's silk — the kitchen's own first test at the canon's purest seat.