Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken

Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken

　　 Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken is a famous dish from Guangdong. It originated in the Dongjiang region of Guangdong. Over 300 years ago, near the coastal salt fields of Dongjiang, people began wrapping cooked chicken in gauze paper and burying it in salt piles for preservation. The resulting chicken was deliciously fragrant and had a unique flavor. Later, as the salt industry flourished in Dongjiang’s capital, local restaurants competed to serve the finest dishes to guests. This led to the creation of a method where live chicken is blanched and then baked in hot salt—cooked and served fresh on the spot. Since this dish originated in the Dongjiang area, it came to be known as “Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken.”

　　 Features:

　　 Unique preparation method, rich and fragrant taste, tender and smooth skin and meat. Best enjoyed with a side of sand ginger, oil, and salt for an exceptional flavor. The chicken has a light yellow hue, crispy skin, tender flesh, and deliciously aromatic bones and meat—making it a popular dish at banquets.

　　 Ingredients:

　　 One plump, tender capon weighing about 1500g (a capon refers to a yellow-feathered, yellow-beaked, yellow-legged, egg-laying hen), 10g each of ginger slices and scallion strips, 25g coriander, 2500g coarse salt, 13g refined salt, 7g MSG, 2.5g each of star anise powder and sand ginger powder, 1g sesame oil, 120g lard, 15g peanut oil, and 2 sheets of gauze paper.

　　 Preparation:

　　 1. Heat 4g of refined salt in a small amount of water in a wok. Add the sand ginger powder, stir well, then remove and divide into 3 small dishes. Add 15g of lard to each dish for dipping. Mix 75g lard, 5g refined salt, sesame oil, and MSG to make a dipping sauce. Brush one sheet of gauze paper with peanut oil and set aside.

　　 2. Make one cut on each side of the wing joint and one cut on the neck bone. Rub 3.5g of refined salt evenly inside the chicken cavity, then add ginger, scallions, and star anise powder. First wrap the chicken with an unwaxed gauze paper, then wrap it again with the peanut oil–brushed gauze paper.

　　 3. Heat the wok over high heat, add the coarse salt, and stir-fry until very hot. Remove 1/4 of the salt and place it in a clay pot. Put the chicken inside the clay pot and cover it with the remaining salt. Seal the lid tightly and bake over low heat for about 20 minutes until cooked.

　　 4. Remove the chicken, unwrap the gauze paper, and set aside the chicken skin (for later use). Shred the chicken meat into pieces, break up the bones, and mix with the dipping sauce. Arrange on a plate (bones at the bottom, meat in the middle, skin on top) to resemble the shape of a chicken, with coriander placed on both sides. Serve with the sand ginger, oil, and salt dipping sauce.