Beggar's Chicken

Beggar's Chicken
Beggar's Chicken
Alternative names Rich & noble chicken
Type Stuffed chicken dish
Place of origin China
Region or state Changshu, Jiangsu province
Main ingredients Chicken, marinade, and stuffing with variety of ingredients
Beggar's Chicken
Traditional Chinese 叫化雞
Simplified Chinese 叫化鸡
Hanyu Pinyin jiàohuā jī
Literal meaning Beggar's Chicken

Beggar's Chicken is a Chinese dish of chicken that is stuffed, wrapped in clay, and slowly baked at low heat. It can take six hours to prepare a single serving.[1]

Origin

As the dish is very popular in China, many regions claim it as traditionally theirs.[2] Most experts agree that the dish originated in Hangzhou.[2][3] The clay-wrapped, slow cooking method is thousand of years old in China.[2]

Various legends surround the origins of Beggar's Chicken.[4][5] In one, a beggar stole a chicken from a farm, but having no pot or utensils, improvised a cooking method. He wrapped the bird in lotus leaves and packed clay or mud around it, set it in a hole where he had lit a fire, and buried it to cook it. When he dug up the chicken and cracked open the clay, he found the meat to be tender and aromatic.[2][3] In other versions, the beggar stole the chicken from the emperor and used the mud-hole method to avoid smoke which might attract the imperial guards;[2] alternatively, the emperor stopped to dine with the beggar and so enjoyed the dish that he added it to the imperial menu, and the beggar prospered by selling it to locals.[3] According to another legend, the dish had been a childhood favorite of Emperor Gaozu of Han, who had been born a peasant, and when he became emperor the recipe became an imperial specialty.[2]

Today, the dish is often wrapped in lotus leaves and sometimes in pastry,[6] though some recipes still call for a covering of non-toxic clay to retain moisture.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ WatchMojo.com. "Top 10 Food Cities". Youtube. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Basler, Barbara (April 8, 1990). "FARE OF THE COUNTRY; Hong Kong's Mystery Chicken". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Beggar's Chicken: the Legend Behind the Dish". Four Seasons Hotel. Archived from the original on June 22, 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Parkinson, Rhonda (June 1, 2015). "Chinese Recipe Name Origins". The Spruce. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  5. ↑ Jun, Shi. "Beggar's Chicken (叫化鸡)". foreignercn.com. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Beggar's Chicken (Jiao Hua Ji)". Saveur. March 20, 2002. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ Tan, Ken. "Beggar's Chicken". Taste by Four Seasons. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
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