--- title: 'Gai Yang Isaan, oven' slug: 'gai-yang-isaan-oven' kind: 'recipe' revision: 1 variantOf: 'gai-yang-isaan' source: 'mcp' created: '2026-09-23T08:41:33.207Z' url: 'https://noble-notations.ryanjnoble.dev/recipes/gai-yang-isaan-oven' --- # Gai Yang Isaan, oven _Fan oven with a steam tray below, then the top grill for the char_ The same bird and the same paste as the fire method. The heat is different. A 1.2 kg spatchcocked chicken roasts on a rack at 220 degrees C fan. A tray of boiling water sits on the lowest shelf. The steam keeps the sugary paste from burning while the meat cooks. Take the water out when the skin takes colour. Baste with coconut cream. Then move the chicken under the top grill on maximum for 5 to 7 minutes. That gives the char the fire would give. In an oven the heat is even, so the probe leads. Take the thigh to 76 degrees C. The whole cook takes 40 to 45 minutes. ## Why this revision First version in the store. Records the fan oven method for a 1.2 kg bird with an overnight marinade, as cooked back in Berlin. The water tray, the legs to the fan and the 76 degrees C thigh target come from earlier runs. ## Variations The same dish taken different ways. Each one keeps its own versions. - Gai Yang Isaan (`gai-yang-isaan`) - Gai Yang Isaan, oven (`gai-yang-isaan-oven`) — this one — Fan oven with a water tray, finished under the top grill, in place of the wood fire ## Categories - **Texture**: Crisp - **Cuisine**: Isaan, Thai - **Course**: Main - **Equipment**: Mortar and pestle, Probe thermometer, Roasting tray - **Technique**: Roasting, Butchery, Grinding ## Ingredients - 1.2 kg Whole chicken, spatchcocked and slashed ### Paste - 4 piece Coriander root - 8 clove Garlic, peeled - 2 stalk Lemongrass, inner core only, sliced thin - 8 piece Bird's eye chilli - 40 ml Fish sauce - 30 ml Oyster sauce - 12 g Palm sugar, shaved - 6 g White pepper, ground - 2 g Black pepper, cracked - 75 ml Coconut cream ### Oven - 1000 ml Water, boiling ### To serve - Coriander leaf _(optional)_ - 1 piece Lime juice, cut into wedges _(optional)_ ## Method ### Prepare 1. Put the chicken breast down. Cut along both sides of the backbone with shears. Remove the backbone. _(Butchery)_ 2. Turn the chicken over. Press on the breastbone until it cracks and the bird lies flat. Dry it with paper. 3. Cut 3 to 4 shallow slashes through the skin into each thigh and the thickest part of each breast. ### Paste 4. Scrape the coriander roots clean. Pound them in the dry mortar to a fibrous pulp. _(Grinding)_ 5. Add the garlic. Pound until it joins the pulp. _(Grinding)_ 6. Add the lemongrass. Pound until no long fibres remain. _(Grinding)_ 7. Add the bird's eye chillies last. Pound them coarse. Leave pieces in the paste. _(Grinding)_ 8. Stir in the fish sauce, the oyster sauce, the palm sugar and 25 ml of the coconut cream. Do not pound. 9. Stir in the white pepper and the black pepper last. ### Marinate 10. Rub the paste under the skin, into the slashes, into the cavity and over all surfaces. 11. Cover the chicken. Refrigerate it overnight. _(480 min)_ ### Oven 12. Set the oven to 220 degrees C with the fan on. Put a wire rack over a sheet pan on the middle shelf. _(220 °C)_ 13. Put a tray of boiling water on the lowest shelf. ### Roast 14. Put the chicken on the rack, skin up. Point the legs to the back of the oven, at the fan. > The back wall near the fan runs hotter. The thighs need the extra heat. The breast stays nearer the cooler door. 15. Roast for 15 minutes. Then turn the pan through 180 degrees. _(15 min · 220 °C · Roasting)_ 16. Roast on. Start to probe the thigh at 25 minutes. _(15 min · 220 °C · Roasting)_ ### Grill 17. When the skin takes colour, remove the water tray. > The grill stage needs dry heat. Wet air stops the skin from browning. 18. Mix the remaining 50 ml of coconut cream with any paste that is left. Baste the skin. 19. Move the chicken to the top shelf, 10 to 15 cm below the grill element. 20. Set the top grill to maximum. Keep the oven door open a little. > An open door stops the thermostat from turning the element off. 21. Grill until the skin is deep brown with patches of char. Watch it all the time. _(5 min)_ > The sugar in the paste goes from brown to black in under a minute. 22. Take the chicken out when the thigh reads 76 degrees C. 78 degrees C is also correct. _(76 °C)_ ### Finish 23. Rest the chicken on a board for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not cover it. _(10 min)_ 24. Carve. Scatter the coriander leaf. Serve with lime wedges, sticky rice and nam jim jaew. ## Notes ### The water tray keeps the paste from burning _(science)_ The paste holds sugar from the palm sugar and the oyster sauce. At 220 degrees C that sugar would burn before the thigh is cooked. A tray of boiling water fills the oven with steam. Wet air slows evaporation from the surface of the chicken. While the surface stays wet, it stays near the boiling point of water. The sugar cannot reach the temperature where it burns. The meat still cooks. Steam moves heat into food faster than dry air. Remove the tray before the grill stage. The surface then dries, and the sugar and proteins brown under the element. Conditions: 220 degrees C fan · tray of boiling water on the lowest shelf · remove the tray before the grill