Hakka · main
Hakka Salt-Baked Chicken
盐焗鸡 · Yánjú Jī
Hakka chicken baked whole in salt. The salt forms a crust; the chicken inside is moist and aromatic.
Salt-baked chicken is a Hakka tradition (the Hakka being a Han subgroup originally from northern China who migrated south over centuries). A whole chicken is wrapped in paper and buried in coarse salt heated to 200°C, baking from the outside in. The chicken emerges deeply seasoned but not salty inside; the meat is moist and aromatic. Served carved on the bone with a small dish of ginger-and-scallion oil.
Where to try
Hakka restaurants in Guangdong and Fujian; Hong Kong's older Hakka houses.
Dietary notes
Chicken.
Cities to try Hakka Salt-Baked Chicken
Other south dishes
- Beef Chow Fun干炒牛河
Flat rice noodles dry-fried with silky marinated beef, beansprouts and spring onion over a fierce wok flame.
- Beef Chow Fun干炒牛河
Stir-fried wide flat rice noodles with sliced beef, scallion, bean sprouts and a smoky wok-hei flavour.
- Buddha Jumps Over the Wall佛跳墙
Fujian's banquet centrepiece — a slow-simmered soup of dried abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, ham and 20+ other ingredients.
- Cantonese Roast Goose烧鹅
Whole goose roasted to crisp-skinned tenderness. The most prized of the Cantonese siu mei roasted meats.