Bring saucy, tender bourbon chicken home with this timeless technique

Have you ever noticed how the meat and seafood from your favorite Chinese restaurant are particularly succulent? The trick, it turns out, is a technique called velveting.

“It’s very prevalent in Chinese cuisine,” said Tim Ma, the chef-owner behind Chinese American restaurant Lucky Danger. And it can be found in other Asian cuisines as well. The technique has been around for centuries. Ma recalls childhood memories of watching his mother use it at his family’s restaurant but never heard the word “velveting” until later in life.

The particular term was first introduced in the 1977 book “The Key To Chinese Cooking,” by restaurateur and author Irene Kuo. Generally speaking, it refers to coating small pieces of meat and seafood in a cornstarch-based slurry for two main benefits: The first is that it serves as a barrier for the protein, protecting it from high-heat cooking methods, such as stir-frying, to prevent overcooking and drying out. The second is that, once cooked, the hydrated starch has a slippery texture that helps with our perception of the meat being more succulent and juicy. A third, supplemental benefit is that the cornstarch helps to thicken any sauce that is added to the protein while also giving it a nice sheen.

“We velvet almost everything at Lucky Danger,” Ma said. “Even our shrimp is velveted.” He does this by tossing the thinly sliced or already small proteins in a batter of cornstarch, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and water before briefly blanching it in water. “So we actually get all our proteins in, break them down and will velvet them all right away — and that’s how we hold them.”

This effectively parcooks the proteins, allowing the restaurant to get food out the door to customers that much quicker.

But that is just one way to velvet. Velveting batters originally included egg whites, which create a thicker coating. (Irene Kuo called the thinner, egg-white-less version “slippery coating,” but it’s included under the general velveting umbrella nowadays.) Some suggest letting the meat marinate in the batter, which allows more time for the alkaline baking soda or egg white to tenderize the meat while also helping the batter adhere to it. Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, oil and any other liquid are alternatives to the plain water Ma uses, and some blanch the battered meat in oil instead of water.

While velveting is slightly more involved than cooking proteins without, “the results show,” Ma said. “If we seared a piece of short rib straight and then compared that to the one that’s been velveted, it’s just such a big difference.” Plus, it can be a way to save money, allowing you to use tougher, cheaper cuts, such as chuck or London broil, for stir-fries, soups and stews instead of increasing your grocery budget to purchase more tender cuts, such as filet or rib-eye.

This recipe for bourbon chicken, from “When Southern Women Cook” by America’s Test Kitchen, goes with the simplest version of velveting that skips the blanching step altogether. It starts by tossing bite-size pieces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs with just cornstarch and a splash of the same liquid that will be added later (soy sauce, brown sugar, bourbon and toasted sesame oil). The chicken then goes straight into a skillet until browned, after which the remaining liquid is added and cooked down until it becomes the savory, salty, sticky, sweet sauce the dish is known for.

While this method may not be quite as silky and soft as you can achieve with oil or water blanching, it still yields more tender, succulent morsels of chicken than if it hadn’t been battered first — all while saving home cooks time and from dirtying extra dishes. (Two of my favorite things!) It’s the certainly the best bourbon chicken I’ve ever tasted.

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Bourbon Chicken

½ cup soy sauce, preferably reduced-sodium

½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as peanut or vegetable

2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated

1 teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Cooked rice or noodles, for serving

Steamed broccoli or snow peas, for serving

In a medium glass liquid measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, bourbon, sesame oil and pepper. Microwave on HIGH until hot, about 2 minutes. Whisk to dissolve the sugar.

In a medium bowl, stir together the chicken, cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce mixture until evenly coated.

In a large (12-inch) nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, ginger and remaining soy sauce mixture. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is syrupy and a rubber spatula dragged through it leaves a trail before filling back in, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve hot.

Servings: 4-6 (makes about 4 cups)

Substitutions: Gluten-free? Use gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce. For brown sugar, use granulated sugar. For bourbon, use other types of whiskey, brandy or aged rum. Alcohol-free? Omit the bourbon. For chicken thighs, use chicken breasts. Vegetarian? Use firm or extra-firm tofu. For apple cider vinegar, use white wine vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar.

Nutritional Facts per serving (⅔ cup), based on 6 | Calories: 361; Fat: 19 g; Saturated Fat: 5 g; Carbohydrates: 20 g; Sodium: 867 mg; Cholesterol: 120 mg; Protein: 27 g; Fiber: 0 g; Sugar: 16 g

— Adapted from “When Southern Women Cook” by America’s Test Kitchen (America’s Test Kitchen, 2024)