Chicken is probably the most common culinary ingredient in China besides pork. As for how to eat a chicken, all ethnic groups can tell a variety of cooking methods. Exquisite Suzhou people, of course, will not stick to simple dishes, a chicken can also eat tricks, eat out of style!
On popularity, Suzhou has a traditional "three chickens": called flower chicken, watermelon chicken, early red orange cheese chicken.
01.
It's called Flower Chicken
Called flower chicken, also known as Changshu called hua chicken, simmered chicken, this dish is a traditional dish in Changshu area, friends who have seen Jin Yong's novel "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter" should not be unfamiliar with this dish.
The method is to brush the treated chicken with the sauce, then wrap it in layers of lotus leaves, lard oil and yellow clay, and finally throw it into the firewood and simmer.
According to legend, a long time ago, there was a man named Hanako, who begged for food along the way and wandered to a village in Changshu County. One day, he came across a chicken and wanted to slaughter it for cooking, but he had no cooking utensils or seasonings.
He came to the foot of Yushan Mountain, killed the chicken and removed the internal organs, coated the chicken with yellow mud and firewood, simmered the painted chicken in the fire, waited for the mud to dry the chicken, peeled off the mud shell, and the chicken feathers also fell off with the mud shell, revealing the cooked chicken, and the fragrant aroma spread out.
Later, this dish was called "called flower chicken", and this unique practice also spread.
02.
Watermelon chicken
Watermelon chicken, listening to the name, knows that it is a summer seasonal dish. The tenderness of the baby chicken, with the sweetness of the watermelon, I have to admire the wisdom of the people of Suzhou!
The recipe for this dish also fully reflects the meticulousness of the Su bang dish: put the chicken into a crock pot, add ham slices, bamboo shoot tips, wine, salt and clear soup, simmer until the chicken is rotten, and then pour it into the dug watermelon, cover the melon lid, and steam until the melon skin is yellow, and then eat.
When eating, open the lid, scoop a spoonful, taste the soup first, the fresh flavor of the ingredients is completely integrated into the soup, with the sweetness of the watermelon, and then eat the chicken, the meat is tender and fresh, it is really cool and appetizing.
03.
Early red orange cheese chicken
This dish is also a combination of seasonal fruit and chicken, "early red orange" produced in Dongshan, Suzhou, usually after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it begins to turn yellow, and matures in September Chongyang, named after its earliest market.
Orange cheese is made by peeling the oranges, removing the network and core, taking their custard, and stir-frying them with ingredients.
The most amazing thing about this dish is the use of early red orange as an accessory, accompanied by fresh and tender seasonal new chicken, which has been experienced by the fire to make it a unique and unique dish.
The chicken is made in the morning red orange cheese, the chicken is crispy, fragrant, and orange in color. Unfortunately, this dish is now little known, and it is difficult to find it in outside restaurants.
04.
Stir-fry chicken in oil
According to legend, Yi Junzuo, the author of the Qing Dynasty's "Gossip Yangzhou", went to the Xingfu Wang Si Restaurant to taste the white wine and yellow chicken, and praised it greatly, improvising the poem: "The most loved by the famous mountain is a talented person, the heart is not empty and there is still a pavilion, the Wang Si restaurant has a good flavor, and the yellow chicken is white and tender and tender." "The "yellow chicken" here is talking about oil chicken.
This dish is made of fat "four yellow" chicken, plus a variety of spices, slowly marinated, wait until the color of the skin of the chicken in the oil of the simmering pot slowly changes from light yellow to sallow yellow. Although it is called oil chicken, it will not feel greasy at all when eating, but it is a very fresh feeling, which is very suitable for summer consumption.
05.
Chicken feet
In addition to the whole chicken, there is another part of the chicken that is also favored by Suzhou people, that is, chicken feet.
When it comes to chicken feet, there are too many shops selling chicken feet on the street in Suzhou, the most famous of which are probably the "Chicken Feet" on Pingjiang Road and the "Xiangxin Restaurant" on Shiquan Street.
Suzhou people love to eat chicken feet too much, and the chicken feet on the market are also wonderful, such as brine chicken feet, Lili spicy feet, fried chicken feet, pickled pepper chicken feet... Different tastes to suit everyone's needs.
But if you say which one best represents the taste of Suzhou, it must be the brine chicken feet. Whether it is soft and crispy and the marinade is flavorful is the criterion for Suzhou people to judge a brine chicken foot. As for the taste, the old Suzhou people still like the sweet brine chicken feet.
Of course, the above is only a part of the Suzhou people's way of eating "chicken", if you carefully search, it is not too much to count a hundred kinds! Which of these ancient legal laws that have been passed down for a long time, or the daily taste of the Gusu people, which one is your best?
"Don't eat too full, drink tea too strong."