We all know that every place has its own special delicacies and snacks. Beggar's Chicken is a famous dish in Beijing. Many people don't know that this dish actually has a certain relationship with our Emperor Qianlong. So, what kind of relationship is it?
Next, let us find the answer together from the perspective of food culture!
There is a famous dish in Beijing cuisine. The name of the dish is very interesting. It is called "Beggar Chicken" or "Rich and Gui Chicken". There is a reason why this dish is named with completely different vocabulary for the rich and the poor. Origin: "Beggar's Chicken" originated from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. It is a chicken stolen or begged by some poor refugees, namely "beggar". It is cooked in local dishes after being heated. It is originally an unrefined street dish.
Back then, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited Jiangnan incognito, and accidentally left his rags on the streets. One of the beggars saw that he was pitiful, so he gave him a "beggar's chicken" that he thought was a delicacy. Qianlong was sleepy and hungry. Of course he thought the chicken was extremely delicious and asked him its name. The beggar was embarrassed to tell him that the chicken was delicious. It was called "Beggar Chicken", so they called it "Wealth Chicken".
Qianlong said that this "rich chicken" was delicious. It was later discovered that this homeless man was the current emperor. This "beggar's chicken" also became a "rich chicken" because of the emperor's golden mouth. Become a famous dish.
Beggar’s Chicken Culture:
Beggar’s Chicken often appears in Chinese stories and novels, and merchants rack their brains to imagine what Hong Qigong ate back then. Food, what Hong Qigong misses the most, is the half of a beggar's chicken with a chicken butt that Huang Rong tore to her when they first met. Beggar's Chicken is a traditional dish in Changshu, Jiangsu Province. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a beggar stole a chicken at the foot of Yushan Mountain in Changshu. He had no cooking utensils, no seasonings, and no boiling water to remove the hair. After killing the chicken, he took out the internal organs, covered them with mud, and piled them up. Some fallen pine leaves were roasted. This DIY eating method may have been invented by beggars a long time ago, so it seems reasonable for Jin Yong to advance the Changshu beggar's chicken to the Southern Song Dynasty.
Lin Yutang also wrote about beggar's chicken in "Ephemeral Capital". After losing her daughter, Mulan pursued peace of mind and cooked beggar's chicken according to the Changshu cooking method, dipping it in soy sauce. . Lin Yutang borrowed her words to talk about her views on food: "Chicken has its own beauty. Excessive cooking, stuffing, seasonings and spices will only distract from its pure beauty." Huang Rong agreed with this. She finally The specialty dish is not "Twenty-Four Bridges on a Moonlit Night", but the most homely fried cabbage, steamed tofu, and stewed eggs.
According to the theory of Huang and Lin, the signature dish of Beggar's Chicken at Wangsi Restaurant in Changshu, Suzhou and Louwailou in Hangzhou has obviously changed its flavor. Huang Rong's "Beggar's Chicken" is roasted for a while before the sweet aroma comes out of the mud, and it can be eaten after the wet mud is completely dry. Mulan's "Beggar's Chicken" only takes 20 to 30 minutes, but the current "Beggar's Chicken" is It takes four to five hours to bake and simmer, and the chicken cavity is filled with various ingredients and seasonings such as gizzard slices, shrimps, diced ham, and mushrooms. It is first wrapped in fresh lotus leaves, then paste with soil, and wrapped heavily. It would be more appropriate to rename this kind of beggar chicken to "noble chicken".
The soil and lotus leaves can be said to be the essence of this dish. When you knock the soil outside of the finished dish, gas will come out. The chicken fragrance contains lotus leaves and soil. For the delicate fragrance, it is best to choose the mud at the bottom of the small river, which has good sealing properties. It is still difficult to get a real beggar's chicken now, and it is best to use firewood when roasting.
China is the first country in the world to domesticate chickens. According to archaeologists, it has a history of at least six to seven thousand years. The earliest written record of chicken being made into dishes can be found in the "Book of Rites", and "Qi Min Yao Shu" records chicken dishes such as "five-flavor preserved meat", "chicken soup" and "steamed chicken".
With the improvement of people's living standards, dishes cooked with chicken have become more and more abundant. By the Qing Dynasty, "Suiyuan Food List" recorded 30 kinds, and "Tiao Ding" Collection" reaches 108 types. Besides the feathers, all other parts of the chicken can be used in dishes. Famous dishes made from chicken are known in various cuisines - Bailu chicken in Beijing, Dezhou braised chicken and braised chicken nuggets in Shandong, white chopped chicken in Guangdong, Bangbang chicken and strange-flavor chicken nuggets in Sichuan, etc. What’s interesting is that although each preparation method has its own ingenuity, beggar’s chicken is the most creative. "Tao follows nature". When the beggar was hungry, he got the inspiration of nature and used local materials to create a delicacy in the world.