See My French Host Father Make Ginger Chicken!

This is amazing! My French host father Thierry was featured on a TV show called La prochaine fois c'est chez moi (meaning "Next time, it's at my house") cooking one of his many fantastic recipes--a dish that I remember him making when I lived with him and his wife Catherine three years ago!

The premise of the show is that an amateur chef goes to somebody else's house and cooks a dish for them; then in the next episode, the person who was the chef is now the host, and somebody new comes to their house and prepares a meal. Each recipe also gets posted on the show's website.

Here, Thierry cooks ginger-soy chicken for a woman named Carine. I assume the next show will feature a guest cooking something for Thierry in the apartment that I know so well--I'll link to that video if it's online tomorrow!

Of course the video is only in French, but you get to see Thierry put on his favorite apron and demonstrate his techniques for chopping onions and crushing ginger!



Thierry loves to travel and, while he excels at French dishes like raclette and blanquette de veau, he's accumulated recipes from all over the world. This one comes from a Chinese friend. As he explains in the video: "I had a doctor, an acupuncturist, who loved food, and he told me about this recipe of chicken with ginger sauce, so now I call it Doctor Wang's Chicken."

And if you want to make it for yourself, I've translated the recipe:

Doctor Wang's Chicken
from the kitchen of Thierry C.

• 4 chicken legs (or 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 fresh ginger root, peeled and crushed
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup dry white wine or lemon juice
• 1/2 cup black soy sauce
• Salt & pepper to taste

Remove skin from chicken and discard. Cut each leg into two pieces, if the thighs and drumsticks are not already separated.

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, then sauté the chicken until it is browned on all sides. Set the meat aside.

Turn down the heat to low and add the rest of the oil, the chopped onion, the garlic and the ginger. Cook until the onions are very soft and everything melts together.

Use the white wine (or the lemon juice, if you prefer) to deglaze the pan, then add the soy sauce and the chicken. If using lemon juice, also add 1 cup water. Season with pepper to taste.

Let the chicken stew over low heat for 35 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.

Serve with Thai or Basmati rice.