Best Marinade for Chicken: Asian-Marinated Baked Chicken Recipe (Jeric James)

In my attempt to kitchen-test every recipe that catches my fancy, I recently came across this Asian-Marinated Baked Chicken recipe from Amy Wisniewski. It's a fairly easy dish that you can whip up when you're pressed for preparation time since the other ingredients (aside from the chicken) come from whatever is in your pantry. Chicken, sans the skin, is a staple for healthy eaters. It's high in protein and, if prepared properly, low in fat. I'm a big fan of poultry dishes. My sister makes the best spicy chicken adobo and it's one of my ultimate comfort foods. To start with, here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger (from 1 [3- to 4-inch] piece)
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (from about 5 medium cloves)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, drumsticks, or breasts, or a combination of all three

Instructions:
1. Place everything except the chicken in a 13-by-9-inch broiler-proof baking dish and whisk to combine.

2. Lay the chicken in a single layer in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours, turning the chicken at least once during the marinating time.

3. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 475?F and arrange a rack in the middle.

4. Turn all the chicken pieces skin-side up in the dish (if you're using drumsticks, just turn to recoat them in the marinade). Bake until the chicken is starting to turn a dark brown color, about 40 minutes.

5. Set the oven to broil and broil until the chicken skin is crisped, about 3 to 5 minutes more. Serve with the sauce on the side.

What I love about Asian-inspired dishes is the familiarity of flavors. They're rich and complex but authentic and satisfying. Asian cuisine caters to all, even to the western palate, that it has become a cornerstone of every tasting experience. In this case with marinades, you're given a free-hand on being creative with the ingredients. You simply combine soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a little brown sugar in a baking dish, add the chicken, and let it marinate in the fridge overnight. The use of extenders such as ketchup, soft drinks, soy sauce, and rum should add up to a delightful balance between saltiness, spiciness, sweetness, and tanginess. Learn to mix and match what's in your kitchen. Once you're ready to cook it, simply put the whole dish in the oven and in 40 minutes you'll have crispy, saucy, flavorful chicken. Easily the best marinade for chicken in my books, the secret to getting the right flavor out of the chicken meat is marinating it for twelve hours before cooking.

When I had this prepared during Sunday dinner with the family, my mother gave me compliments on the chicken meat's texture. It was moist and flavorful. It evoked nostalgia as it reminded me of our family lunches many years ago, when as a young kid all I had to worry about was how much I could eat before resuming play outside with my siblings and cousins. My own interpretation of this recipe has proven that there really is no right or wrong way of doing marinades. Everyone adapts to develop their own method which is simple but yields delicious results. Whether it's easy pork marinade or marinade for beef... as long as the end result satisfies your taste buds then it's all good. Everyone's secret recipe is a winner.

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