Beggar’s Chicken
1 min readA regular on Hangzhou’s lists of famous dishes，beggar’s chicken consists of chicken wrapped in lotus leaf，with a dab of Shaoxing wine to give it extra flavor.
Traditionally，it was roasted in mud，though today this step isn’t strictly necessary.Inbygone eras，this chicken is said to have been cooked at campfires by lowly beggars who could only wrap their chicken in mud and leaves.Surprisingly，the scent proved delightful，cementing this dish’s place as a must-have for lovers of Hangzhou cuisine.Today，top notch restaurants continue to use clay to separate this dish from other chicken pretenders（though modern chefs first wrap the chicken in cellophane and have perfected the use of safe clays）.The end result is a chicken you can literally crack open，to reveal the feast within，and the chicken is often stuffed with other tasty ingredients like shitake mushrooms.
