Beggar's Chicken

Beggar's Chicken, also known as Hangzhou Weiji (Weiji means roast chicken in Chinese), is one of Hangzhou's 36 Famous Dishes to have been acknowledged by Zhejiang Province in 1956.

The origin of the dish is unknown, but folklore attributes it to an ancient beggar who was driven by cold and hunger to steal a chicken. With neither the tools nor the means to cook the chicken, the beggar, hungry and upset, wrapped the un-plucked chicken with mud and straw and then roasted it in a campfire. When the chicken was ready, it tasted extremely delicious and its extraordinary aroma traveled for miles and miles.

The legend's cooking method has, to date, been widely applied and has even been introduced into restaurants. It is only after constant experimentation that the original cooking method has developed into the one we know today, which is carefully selecting good-quality Yue Chicken (which is large, tender, and low in fat) and then cleaning, stuffing and wrapping it in a lotus leaf covered with the mixture of Shaoxing Wine (a Chinese cooking wine) followed by mud and then finally leaving it to roast for hours.

With the aromatic scent of wine and lotus leaf penetrating deep into the chicken, Beggar's Chicken not only smells fabulous but will leave you begging for more…