Description
Also famously known as 'Beggar's Chicken'. A whole chicken stuffed with savory fillings, wrapped tightly in lotus leaves, then completely sealed inside a thick dome of 'mud (clay)' and baked. One of the most wild, romantic, and legendary dishes in Chinese cuisine.
Restaurants serving Fu Gui Ji (Beggar's Chicken / Clay-Baked Chicken)
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On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Whole chicken
- Pork/Shiitake/Shrimp(for stuffing)
- Lotus leaves
- Pork caul fat
- Clay(or wheat dough)
- Shaoxing wine
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe & Differences]
- (Chicken Prep) Marinate a whole gutted chicken with soy, Shaoxing wine, scallion, ginger, Five-Spice.
- Stuff the cavity to the brim with a stir-fried mixture of pork, shiitake, shrimp, and bamboo shoots.
- (Wrapping) Wrap the entire bird in 'pork caul fat' for richness, then wrap it tightly in multiple layers of highly aromatic 'Lotus Leaves'.
- [The Highlight]: Encase the lotus leaves completely in a thick layer of 'special clay mixed with wine and salt' (modern restaurants often substitute with wheat dough), forming a sealed rugby ball shape.
- Bake slowly in an oven (traditionally buried under an open fire) for hours.
- Served at the table, a wooden mallet is used to smash open the hard clay shell ('CRACK!'). Opening the lotus leaves releases an intense aroma and perfectly falling-apart premium chicken.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Intense noble lotus leaf aroma、Locked-in chicken umami
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Substitute with an oven bag or salt-crust baking)
Pairing
Shaoxing Wine / Chinese Tea
Trivia
[Trivia] Legend says a beggar (Jiao Hua Zi) stole a chicken, wrapped it in mud to hide it in a fire. When cracked open, the mud pulled the feathers off perfectly, revealing an unbelievably delicious roast. Thus called 'Beggar's Chicken'. Restaurants rename it 'Fu Gui Ji' (Rich/Noble Chicken) for good luck.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] After enjoying the entertainment of smashing the shell with a hammer, use chopsticks to pull apart the impossibly tender chicken. Eat it together with the 'premium stuffing inside that has absorbed every drop of the chicken's juices'.
Allergen
Chicken, Pork, Shrimp, Wheat