One of my favorite chicken dishes is soy sauce chicken.   It's not just soy sauce, but a blend of soy sauce, sugar, star anise, ginger, cinnamon, five spice powder and water. Over the years I've tried many versions of soy sauce chicken.  However, the best recipe I tasted was at church!  It is simple and fool-proof.

When we first came to California, we attended First Evangelical Church in Glendale which was, at that time, predominantly an Asian church.  Many of the attenders were part of fellowship groups and each fellowship group was responsible for making lunch for the entire church every Sunday.  The more mature fellowships undoubtedly were responsible for more complex dishes like soy sauce chicken.  At that time, our fellowship comprised the youngest married adults and were responsible for anything tofu!

A family friend was part of the fellowship responsible for the chicken recipe and those Sundays,  I would ask for the leftover soy sauce which we would take home and reuse the sauce multiple times until it ran out.  Needless to say, this fellowship perfected the taste of the soy sauce mixture after decades of making that chicken.  I recently saw this family friend and asked her for the recipe.

Tips for making soy sauce chicken.

Saucepan size.

Choose a saucepan that is not too large but just big enough to fit the chicken.  A saucepan that is too large will require more soy sauce than is needed in order to cover the entire chicken.

Chicken.

This recipe can be made with all chicken parts, including the whole chicken.  "Poaching" a whole chicken does require a large amount of sauce.  However, for certain festivals, the whole chicken is more appropriate than chicken parts. 

This recipe does not require the initial browning of the chicken since it doesn't affect the taste, texture or color.  From experience, browning the chicken tears the skin.

Sauce.

The amount of soy sauce mixture in which the chicken is boiled really depends on the size of the saucepan, size of the whole chicken or the amount of chicken parts used. Generally, the soy sauce mixture should cover all the chicken parts to ensure even penetration of the sauce.  As a result, it is more important to know the ratios of the main ingredients rather than an actual amount.