A couple of weeks ago I red cooked a pork shoulder. So I had a huge pot of leftover cooking liquid, which I had also then cooked drumsticks and eggs in. Of course since my basement finally got cold enough to hang meat in. So I proceeded to hang a batch of Chinese bacon (腊肉).
Once the meat is hung, I end up with another pot of really aromatic soy sauce. I put the leftover sauce on the stove to boil. the residual blood with solidify and sink to the bottom with all the aromatics once it’s coo. Then I pour the pot of soy sauce over a mesh colander over another pot to get rid of the impurities and all the spices. Once that was done, I put the strained pot of soy sauce on the stove and added the leftover soy sauce from the red cooked meat. Let everything simmer again and then let it cool. The sauce is then placed in plastic containers, labeled and placed in the freezer.
But! It smelled so good when I was simmering it I couldn’t resist using it for something else before freezing.
I quartered the quail I had thawing in the refrigerator, placed it in a plastic bag and poured in about a quart of sauce and left it brining overnight in the fridge.
The next evening, I put some cornstarch in another plastic bag and placed the pieces of quail in the bag and shook it to coat them. I sprayed the air fryer basket with avocado oil and placed the quail in the basket. Sprayed the quail and air fried them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Turned them over and sprayed with more avocado oil, and air fried for another 5 minutes.
So juicy and tender! The flavor of the sauce did not overwhelm the delicacy of the quail since I only marinated them in the sauce instead of boiling as is usually done with red cooked meats.
Served with scallion pancakes and stir fried baby bok choy.
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