Chinese Roast Chicken

In a small bowl, add soy sauce, water, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, chili flakes, star anise, 5 spice powder, garlic, orange peel, ginger and scallion and mix to combine. Set aside.

Place the whole chicken on a cutting board and with a sharp knife cut along the backbone of the chicken, starting at the tail end. Once the backbone has been cut all the way through, spread the chicken open. Now press the knife down the center of the breast bone cutting all the way through. You should now have two halves.

Place the halves in a large Ziplock bag and add marinade. Seal the bag and put it into a pan to make sure it doesn’t leak. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place chicken skin side up and all of the marinade in a large baking dish. Cover tightly with foil then place into preheated oven. Bake covered for 1 ½ hours. After 1 ½ hour, turn the oven up to 425 F and bake chicken uncovered for 30 minutes basting it with the pan juices every 5 minutes.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking, mix cornstarch with water in a small bowl and pour into the baking dish. Stir carefully to combine. Now continue to cook the chicken and baste every 2-3 minutes with thickened sauce.

Remove from oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before serving.