[edit] Beggar's Chicken (叫花鸡)
- One day a Qing Dynasty emperor took a ride out in the country. There was a high party with him. They feasted their eyes on the beauty of nature, and somehow the emperor smelled something delicious. It came on the wind. "Well, Well", the emperor exclaimed. Saying this he ordered his men to track the smell, and they found a beggar eating a chicken by the roadside. It was fresh from a fire. How the beggar came to have a chicken, whether he had bought it or stolen it, we don't know, but he did enjoy the chicken. The mouths of the emperor's men watered. They asked the beggar how he had prepared the chicken. "It's simple enough", the beggar said, "All you have to do is to clean it, cover it with a kind of mud and then roast it."
- The men reported this to the emperor. He ordered a chicken to be done in the beggar's way, and it turned out to be the best chicken the emperor had ever enjoyed. Since the emperor liked it so much, it is also known as Emperor's Chicken. Today the dish is still done in the beggar's way. Clay is still used to cover the chicken, and lotus leaves are still between the chicken and clay.
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