Sort of a Throwback: White Cut Chicken with Scallion-Ginger Sauce

Back when I was in middle school (I think) my mother went to see Mark Bittman do a cooking demo at Macy’s Cellar, where he made Steamed Chicken with Scallion-Ginger sauce. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think that this was the recipe that turned into White Cut Chicken, and the Ginger-Scallion sauce that Bittman suggests serving it with. See how he flipped it?

Mom got a ton of mileage out of the Scallion-Ginger sauce recipe. Basically, she used to just steam some chicken breasts (bone-in) and serve them warm or room temp with the real star of the recipe, the dipping sauce. It’s just a mixture of scallions, ginger, a bit of garlic, neutral oil, soy sauce, and a little bit of sesame oil. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a light, clean, complex flavor that actually compliments the blandness of chicken breasts, which are usually not my favorite. There’s no cooking, but the longer you can leave it hanging out before it’s time to eat, the better. Ginger-Scallion sauce, on the other hand, doesn’t have soy sauce or sesame oil in it, and you heat the oil before adding it. How is it? I don’t know, I haven’t made it yet. But Scallion-Ginger sauce, what you see here, is one of the tastiest dips ever, and it goes really well with White Cut Chicken.

Well, on Saturday I decided to use the cut-up chicken I’d bought to make… something. I flipped open the book to find a recipe I had the ingredients for (sidebar: I need to get out of chickenland, but I don’t think I know how). White Cut Chicken jumped out. It’s basically poached chicken, but it leaves you with a really nice broth, because you poach the chicken water flavored with ginger, scallions, salt, and sugar. You boil that, add the chicken, reduce it to a simmer, and then turn off the heat altogether and let it chill for a while.

Then you let it come to room temperature and serve, either with Ginger-Scallion sauce, or Scallion-Ginger sauce, or whatever you like, really.

One question: what should I do with the broth? Any ideas? I don’t think it’s as versatile as regular chicken broth, but it is packed with scalliony, gingery, sweet and salty flavor. Maybe I’ll use it to make some rice. Leave your suggestions in the comments.