Red-Cooked Deep-Fried Squab

1. Soak dried tangerine peel. 2. Slice ginger root. Then place in a heavy pan, along with sugar, soy sauce, water, cinnamon, star anise and soaked tangerine peel. Bring to a boil. 3. Wipe squabs with a damp cloth. Add to pan and bring to a boil again. Then simmer, covered, 30 minutes, turning frequently for even coloring. Drain well and let cool. Dry with paper toweling. 4. Heat oil. Add squabs one at a time and deep-fry until crisp and golden. Drain on paper toweling. 5. With a cleaver, chop birds, bones and all, in bite-size pieces. Serve with "Basic Pepper-Salt Mix" (see recipe). NOTE: Use about 6 inches of oil to cover the squabs completely when deep-frying. From <The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook>, ISBN 0-517-65870-4. Downloaded from G Internet, G Internet.