Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Daokou roast chicken

Daokou roast chicken


     The town of Daokou in Huaxian County, which is located to the north of Henan Province, is “the land of roast chicken”. The roast chicken branded “Yixing Zhang” ranks first among its compatriots in China.
     Daokou roast chicken is characterized by its delicious flavor, crispy meat, and moderate taste. The chicken is so well cooked that before you eat it, instead of cutting it with knife, all you need to do is to shake it to separate the meat from the bones.
     Daokou roast chicken originally appeared in 1670 during the Qing Dynasty. In 1787, Zhang Bing, one of the predecessors of the current master in roasting chicken Zhang Cunyou, acquired the secret of making roast chicken, namely, “the eight seasonings and the broth”, from an old friend who had once worked in the royal palace as a cook. The eight seasonings consist of dried tangerine peel, cinnamon, cardamom, angelica, cloves, allspice, and etc. After Zhang Bing had tried cooking the roast chicken with the right ingredients, and in the right amount and strict order, his cooking was greatly improved. And then after many experiments, he made continuous improvements on each procedure such as selecting a live chicken, slaughtering and cleaning the skin, dissecting and processing, frying and boiling, and seasoning and fire control; thus successfully summing up a special method of cooking roast chicken. At that time, the roast made by Zhang Bing was spoken highly of by people for its excellence in color, flavor, and taste. Since then, his roast chicken has been known far and wide and he named the shop “Yixing Zhang”.

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