Beggar's Chicken

Beggar's chicken (jiàohuā jī, literally 'flower-beggar chicken') is a Jiangnan classic associated with Hangzhou and the Zhejiang culinary tradition. The standard origin story — a beggar wrapping a stolen chicken in mud and baking it in a field fire — is probably apocryphal, but the technique it describes is accurate and predates the story by some distance.

A whole chicken is first marinated in Shaoxing wine, soy, ginger and five-spice, then the cavity is stuffed with a mixture of spring onion, ginger, pickled mustard greens and sometimes dried mushrooms or water chestnuts. The stuffed bird is wrapped tightly in several layers of fresh lotus leaves, which perfume the meat during cooking and prevent direct moisture loss. In the traditional preparation, this lotus-leaf parcel is then encased in a thick layer of clay, sealed, and baked slowly for two to four hours.

The clay casing does several things: it traps steam from both the chicken's own juices and the moisture content of the lotus leaves, creating an internal pressure that keeps the meat from drying out while allowing it to cook thoroughly. The skin, which cannot crisp in this environment, instead becomes very tender and takes on the herbal character of the leaves. When the clay is cracked at the table — a procedural moment that the better restaurants make theatrical — the contained steam and aroma release together.

Modern versions at most restaurants use oven-safe dough or aluminium foil as the outer casing rather than clay, which speeds preparation and avoids the firing temperature challenge. A clay-cased version from a heritage kitchen takes significantly longer to prepare and is worth seeking out for the contrast.

It is a shared centrepiece dish. Order in advance at specialist restaurants.