Anyang “Three-Smoked” Delicacies

Anyang “Three-Smoked” Delicacies

　　The Anyang “Three-Smoked” Delicacies include smoked chicken, smoked chicken eggs, and smoked pig’s head meat. The renowned chef Yan Haode was the main creator of this dish. It enjoys great fame not only in Anyang but also in major cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, as well as in western Shandong, southern Hebei, and eastern Shanxi. The preparation of the Three-Smoked delicacies is meticulous, with strict selection of ingredients and careful processing. The finished products are persimmon-red in color, glossy and oily, rich but not greasy, with a pure and intense aroma, a long-lasting aftertaste, and can be enjoyed either hot or cold, making them a perfect accompaniment to wine or rice.

　　The Anyang Three-Smoked Delicacies have long been famous across northern Henan, southern Hebei, western Shandong, eastern Shanxi, and major medium and large cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway. It is a food with a unique flavor, first created in 1922. Shao Jinrong, a native of Anyang whose family had been in the cooked meat business for generations, opened a cooked meat shop called “Rongqinglou” behind the Drum Tower in Anyang, mainly producing flat chicken. Later, he hired a chef named Zhou Yucai from Ci County, Hebei Province, who modified the flat chicken recipe into smoked chicken, and further developed it into smoked chicken eggs, smoked rabbit meat, and more, greatly boosting the business. In 1944, after Shao Jinrong passed away, his nephew Yan Haode inherited the business and renamed the shop “Deqinglou.” He applied the smoking technique to smoked pork offal, producing smoked pig’s head, pig’s stomach, and pig’s tongue, among others, adding over 10 new varieties. This evolved into a series of flavored foods centered around “smoked chicken eggs, smoked chicken, and smoked pork offal”—the Anyang Three-Smoked Delicacies. Its characteristics include: meticulous preparation techniques, strict ingredient selection, fine craftsmanship, persimmon-red finished products that are glossy and oily, rich in pine-like aroma, crispy and tender on the palate, with a long-lasting aftertaste, rich but not greasy, clean and hygienic, resistant to flies and insects, not prone to spoilage in summer, and suitable for travel. It has won the title of “Excellent Food” multiple times.