It is called Huatong Chicken, a traditional dish in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, also known as yellow mud simmered chicken. The chicken has a long history and has a history of more than 300 years. There are also many versions of the origin of the chicken, but the production principle is basically the same. Today, this dish enjoys a high reputation.
Legend has it that in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there was a area called Huazi in Yushan in Changshu, Jiangsu, who usually begged everywhere, begging for some leftovers to talk about to fill his hunger, and sometimes it was difficult to get a bowl of leftover rice a day, so he had to endure hunger.
On this day, he had good luck, and in addition to some hungry meals, he also met a kind old lady who gave him an old hen, and he danced happily. But he was a man named Huazi, and he had nothing but the broken bowl in his hand, so how could he cook this chicken? He thought about it for a long time, and he didn't come up with a good way to do it. Suddenly, he had a stroke of genius and counted his mind. He found a nearby family, borrowed a knife from the owner, slaughtered the chicken, removed the internal organs, went to the mountain to dig up some yellow mud and painted it on the surface of the chicken, took the dead branches and leaves to light a fire, put the wrapped chicken in the fire and stewed it, and when the mud was boiled, he estimated that the chicken was also cooked, so he knocked off the mud shell with a stick, and the chicken feathers also fell off with the mud, and the aroma was overflowing, and the huazi was very surprised, so he picked up the chicken and devoured it.
Just when Calling Huazi could eat hard, Qian Muzhai, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty University, walked by here, smelled the aroma of chicken, and saw the scene of Calling Huazi eating chicken from afar, so he sent someone to inquire about how Huazi made such a delicious chicken. The messenger inquired about it and took a small piece of chicken to Qian Muzhai, who tasted it and felt that the taste was indeed very unusual.
Back at home, he ordered the cook to make it according to the method of the name Huazi, and added various condiments such as diced meat, ham, shrimp and spices to the chicken's stomach, wrapped in lotus leaves, coated with yellow clay, baked in the fire, and named it "Called Huazi Chicken". One day, Liu Ru, a famous prostitute in Jiangnan, came to Qian's house, and Qian entertained her with a chicken and asked Liu Ru, "How is the flavor of Yushan Mountain?" Willow said, "It tastes great," and said, "I'd rather eat a lifetime of Yu mountain chicken than a day's worth of Songjiang fish."
Previous method
Ingredients:
1 tender hen (1000 g), with a small head, a fat and tender three yellow (yellow mouth, yellow feet, yellow hair) hen is better. 50 grams of diced chicken, 100 grams of lean pork, 50 grams of shrimp, 30 grams of cooked ham, 400 grams of lard, 20 grams of diced shiitake mushrooms, 4 pieces of fresh lotus leaves, 3000 grams of wine paste, 50 grams of shao wine, 5 grams of salt, 100 grams of soy sauce, 20 grams of sugar, 25 grams of green onion, 10 grams of minced ginger, 4 cloves, 2 star anise, 0. 5 g, 50 g white onion, 50 g sweet noodle sauce, 50 g sesame oil, 50 g cooked lard.
How to do It The chicken is dehaired, eviscerated and washed. Add soy sauce, rice wine, salt, marinate for 1 hour, remove, crush the cloves and star anise into fine minced, add the minced jade fruit and evenly, and rub on the chicken body.
Put the pot on high heat, add lard to 50% heat, add green onion, ginger, diced chicken, diced lean pork, shrimp, cooked ham, diced shiitake mushrooms, then add shao wine, salt, sugar, soy sauce and fry until it is broken, wait to cool and fill the chicken belly, put a clove in each armpit of the chicken, and then wrap the chicken body tightly with lard oil, wrap a layer with lotus leaves, wrap a layer with cellophane, wrap another layer of lotus leaves on the outside, and then tie it firmly with a fine hemp rope.
The wine altar mud is crushed into a powder, mixed with water, and spread flat on a damp cloth (about 1. 5 cm thick), then put the bundled chicken in the middle of the mud, lift the four corners of the wet cloth to wrap the chicken tightly, so that the mud is tightly glued, remove the wet cloth, and wrap it in wrapping paper.
Put the wrapped chicken in the oven and bake on high heat for 40 minutes, if the mud is dry and cracked, you can plug the cracks with mud, bake on high heat for another 30 minutes, then use low heat for 90 minutes, and finally use low heat for 90 minutes. Remove the mud from the surface of the chicken, untie the rope, remove the lotus leaves, cellophane, drizzle with sesame oil and serve. Also include sesame oil, shallot white and sweet noodle sauce for dipping.