The first step after injecting the chicken is to render the fat by blanching the bird and using an ice bath immediately thereafter. This is done multiple times (6) in order to stop the bird’s meat from cooking and ensuring that the surface is cooked throughout.

In this wet process, the boiling water is used to causing fat to rise to the surface. The rendering process simultaneously dries the material and separates the fat from the meat’s protein. The chicken’s skin drives off the moisture and simultaneously releases the fat from the fat cells and producing a uniform surface.

The only drawback is the skin of the chicken becomes like “water off a duck’s back” and is so ‘tense’ and ‘dense’ that the surface is resistant to any kind of absorption, which I guess is the point. I will try a dry dehydration method keeping the skin dry and more absorbent or not.