Johnny Lee's Fragrant Chicken Rice

As I continue my Hainan Chicken R&D Series, I was incredibly fortunate enough to meet who many consider to be the best Hainan Chicken chef in America. After spending the day learning from him, I've grown to admire his meticulous, scientific, and near obsessive approach to thinking about Hainan Chicken.

Who is Chef Johnny?

Chef Johnny Lee is from a city called Toisan (I think it's also called Taishan) in the southwest region of Guangdong Province in southern China. Growing up, his mother cooked a variety of Cantonese food, including poached chicken.

In 2013, Johnny helped open up the first Sticky Rice location in Grand Central Market LA. The chef wanted to put Khao Man Gai, or thai style hainan chicken rice, on the menu - so this was Johnny's first professional encounter with poached chicken.

In 2016, Johnny opened up Side Chick, his first Hainan Chicken concept in Arcadia. I believe it closed in 2022.

Which was followed up by Pearl River Deli (PRD), a Cantonese concept that sold Hainan Chicken, Char Siu, and much more. Personally, I heard a lot of raving reviews from other chefs about how Johnny's Hainan Chicken at PRD was the best in LA, if not the entire country. Unfortunately, it closed in 2024 and I never got to try it (I actually didn't even know what Hainan Chicken was back then).

Johnny told me that over the 7-8 years of running both Side Chick and Pearl River Deli, he has personally cooked over 10,000 Hainan Chickens.

I don't know exactly he stopped, but he told me doesn't even care that much for Hainan Chicken. He knows how to cook it really well. He's really a connoisseur of all poultry.

Currently, he runs a Southeast Asian Restaurant called Rasa Rumah in Historic Filipino Town. The Cendol Sundae (pictured above) is one of my favorite desserts in the city right now. Once in a blue moon, he does a Hainan Chicken special. Either way, I recommend visiting his spot.

What are Johnny's Secrets to Fragrant Chicken Rice?

It's sort of simple, but he mixes in render chicken fat into the rice after it's fully cooked.

Johnny noticed that when he would cook the rice, the fragrance of the chicken fat would become dulled after the rice finished cooking. Similar to how western cuisine mounts sauces, rices, or dishes with a dollop of butter to finish - he applied the same concept to fragrant chicken rice.

His second technique for fragrant rice is using a heavily seasoned chicken stock that is precisely at 49 °C, or anywhere from 43 °C to 54 °C. He opts for a rice cooker when cooking his rice. He noticed that when the chicken stock is too cold, it takes longer for the rice to cook and causes it to turn mushy. When the chicken stock was too hot, the rice cooker would finish cooking before the rice cooked thoroughly.

For his rice quantity, he does 1:1 ratio by volume of New Crop Jasmine Rice to Master Stock. If it's not new crop, he may go slightly more on the liquid. In the recipe below, I left it at mL for the unit.

He relies on a heavily seasoned master stock to season his rice, along with minced garlic, minced shallots, and slices of ginger.

I asked if he bothers with sautéing the aromatics and rice in chicken fat before cooking, and he opts not to because it's not feasible for a commercial kitchen. However, he wasn't opposed to it.