With its beautiful island scenery, unique humanities and numerous cuisines, Hainan Island has become an important travel destination for the Chinese people. In addition to eating the fat seafood here, it is also essential to taste the four famous dishes of Hainan, of which Wenchang chicken, the first of the four famous dishes, is the most famous. Hainan Wenchang chicken is named because it is produced in Wenchang City, its body shape is square, the skin is thin and the meat is tight, the meat is tender and tender, the nutrition is rich, and it has the characteristics of color, aroma, taste and nutrition, which makes people tireless. On this trip, I came to Wenchang City, Hainan Province, a taste of this legendary Wenchang chicken, to my surprise, this Wenchang chicken is too exquisite.
Photographed in October 2020 in Wenchang, Hainan.
Wenchang City, located in the northeast of Hainan Island. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the county was established and named: Zibei. It was not until the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty that it was renamed Wenchang County, which has a history of more than 2,000 years. Wenchang chicken is named after Wenchang City, which has been farmed locally for more than 400 years. Anywhere in the world, the same cuisine can represent the local characteristics, is the result of countless people to verify, Wenchang chicken is famous, must have its own uniqueness.
According to locals, the wenchang chicken on the whole island of Hainan is the most authentic, only the chicken raised by the farmers in Tanniu Town, Wenchang City, from the purity of the population, to the feeding method, and the cooking method are the most authentic, but also the best taste of the place. Our car departed from Wenchang City, about 20 minutes by car, to this small village in the midst of greenery: Damiao Village.
Led by the locals, I came to the coconut grove behind the village. Only flocks of chickens are being foraging and playing in the forest, these are the legendary Wenchang chickens. These chickens are medium in size, with bright feathers, and look heroic, but they are all very energetic.
Perhaps afraid of the chickens running away, the whole coconut grove is surrounded by nets, but their space is large enough. There are many old coconut shells on the ground, and these chickens are competing to eat the food in these coconut shells, and it seems that this Wenchang chicken really grew up eating coconut meat. Of course, this patch of coconut is also the most abundant food here.
After visiting the chicken farm and learning about Wenchang chicken, the next highlight is to taste Wenchang chicken. In recent years, Damiao Village has set up a farmhouse, and built several glass restaurants in the bamboo in the village, the environment is quiet and quite poetic, and the appetite will be improved when eating in such an environment.
When it was time to eat, it was finally served, and the first dish was Wenchang chicken. To say that the best way to eat this Wenchang chicken is white cut, this white cut Wenchang chicken, the color is yellowish white, the skin is very thin and basically no subcutaneous fat, which should have a certain relationship with free-range, the whole plate of chicken looks quite tempting. The seasoning of eating white cut Wenchang chicken is also somewhat special, including minced garlic, green and red pepper, soy sauce, vinegar and the most important kumquat lemon, which can be prepared according to their own tastes.
However, this looks very tempting white cut chicken, but a bite down but quite a tendon, more tooth-guzzling, can not eat a large bite, can only bite a little, but this chicken taste is extremely delicious. After understanding, I learned that the original authentic traditional cooking Wenchang chicken is not boiled, but boiled over and over again with hot water, so that the chicken is compact and does not lose the umami taste of chicken, and the chicken bones also carry a little blood. A complete plate of white cut Wenchang chicken, in addition to chicken, must also include chicken, chicken offal, etc.
It is said that only by cooking Wenchang chicken in this way can you eat the most delicious taste of chicken. However, many Hainan netizens saw such a cooking method and said that they had heard about it for the first time. According to the local chef who cooks the table dish, "blanching is the authentic Wenchang white cut chicken method, but the process is too cumbersome, and now in order to save time, it is directly put in water and boiled." "It sounds like it makes a lot of sense, but I wonder what you think?"
The hot water of this soup of chicken meat eventually became chicken soup, which is a good thing that cannot be wasted. The traditional local way to eat this chicken soup is to cook this chicken soup with winter melon and clams into a pot of soup, called "Yipinxian". The taste of this soup is indeed very delicious, the most important thing is that there is no fishy taste, perhaps this is related to the quality of Wenchang chicken. After tasting Wenchang chicken, I felt that the chicken was firm, more toothy, the taste was absolutely delicious, and overall it was worthy of the name of Hainan's first dish.