Chicken Braised in Soy Sauce and Lemon

This is a quick and easy chicken braise, a kind of simplified teriyaki (for the “real” thing, see teriyaki
) that makes plenty of light sauce for plain white rice. The lemon really pulls it all together.

1/4 cup peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn

1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 8 pieces, or any combination of parts

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced or grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

• Put the oil in a deep skillet with a lid or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken, skin side down, and brown it well, rotating and turning the pieces as necessary; the process will take 10 to 15 minutes.
• When the chicken is nicely browned, remove it from the skillet and turn the heat down to low. Pour or spoon off all but a tablespoon of the oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until it softens, a minute or two. Stir in the zest, cayenne, soy sauce, sugar, and 1/3 cup water.
• Add the chicken and turn it once or twice in the broth.
• Adjust the heat so that the liquid bubbles gently but steadily. Cover and cook, turning once or twice, until the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 20 minutes (longer if you skipped the browning step); the bird is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 155–165 F.
• Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and stir the lemon juice into the broth. Pour some of the broth over the chicken and pass the rest at the table

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MAKES: 4 servings

TIME: 30 to 40 minutes