Yichun Cihua Chicken

Yichun Cihua Chicken

　　Legend has it that many years ago in Cihua Town, there was a poor scholar who returned home for the New Year after studying away. On the way, he was caught in a snowstorm and caught a cold. When his 0 mother asked him what he wanted to eat, he said, “I have no appetite.” Then his 0 mother cooked a bowl of chicken with pickled peppers, garlic, and rice vinegar from the jar, using the chicken slaughtered for the New Year. When the chicken was cooked, it gave off an appetizing aroma, and suddenly the poor scholar asked his 0 mother what dish she was cooking—it smelled so good. His 0 mother served him a bowl of pickled pepper chicken soup. After drinking it, the scholar’s appetite greatly improved, and he said, “Another bowl!” By the time he was full, he was sweating profusely. The next day, the scholar’s cold was gone, and he then realized that the pickled pepper chicken soup from the previous day had helped cure his illness. Three years later, the once-poor scholar, 1, still longed for his mother’s spicy and sour chicken, but by then his mother was no longer alive. To honor his mother and remember his hometown, he named this spicy and sour chicken “Cihua Chicken,” also known as “New Year Chicken.”