Red Cooked Chicken Daokou Style

Red-Cooked Chicken, Daokou Style is one of the traditional specialties. It is made by Yixing Zhang family roast chicken shop in Daokou Town, Huaxian County, Henan Province. It is a famous specialty of our country. Daokou roast chicken is as famous as Fuliji roast chicken, Beijing roast duck and Jinhua ham.

With a variety of precious Chinese medicines, supplemented by the aged soup, the product of roasted chicken is bright in color, shaped like a treasure, with the mouth Title Ruijie. It has the functions of diet therapy and health care. Founded in Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1661), it has a history of more than 300 years. It was not legal to make chicken. Business was not thriving. Later, from the Royal cook of the imperial dining room of the Qing Palace, the secret recipe for making roast chicken was obtained. The chicken made was very fragrant and beautiful. The production techniques of Daokou roast chicken have been handed down from generation to generation, forming its own unique style. In 1981, it was appraised as a national famous and excellent product by the Ministry of Commerce. Daokou Town, Huaxian County, North Henan Province, is known as "Hometown of Broiled Chicken". "Yixing Zhang" Daokou roast chicken, like Jinhua ham, Gaoyou duck eggs, Beijing roast duck, dominates the nation's food, and is well-known in Shenzhou and overseas.

Daokou roast chicken was founded in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (1661 A.D.) and has a history of more than 300 years. According to the records of Xuxian Chronicle and Huaxian Chronicle, in the first hundred years, due to poor technical conditions, it has not yet had its own characteristics, and business is not prosperous. By the fifty-second year of Qianlong (1787 A.D.), Zhang Bing, the present master of roast chicken and the representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, met Liu Yi, an old cook in the imperial dining room of the Qing Palace. He opened a small roast chicken shop in Daji Street, Daokou Town. His business was depressed because of improper production. One day an old friend who had worked as an imperial cook in the imperial dining room of the Qing Palace came to visit him. He was very skilled. They met again after a long absence and talked freely about drinking. When Zhang Bing asked him for advice, the friend told him a secret recipe: "If you want to cook chicken incense, add eight ingredients to the old soup." Eight ingredients are orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, Amomum seed, straw fruit and Angelica dahurica. Old soup is the soup of cooked chicken. Every pot of chicken must be cooked with the old soup of the first pot. The older, the better. Zhang Bing processed the chicken like this, and the chicken was indeed fragrant. Since then, the business has flourished, Zhang Bing named his roast chicken shop "Yixing Zhang", which implies "Youyi Xingzhang".

After the brand of "Yixing Zhang" was made, Zhang Bing repeatedly practiced and explored a set of experiences in chicken selection, slaughter, propping, cooking, soup use and fire conditions. He chooses chickens strictly. He chooses tender chickens within two years to ensure the quality of chicken. The chickens selected should be kept for a period of time so that the chickens can eliminate tension and resume normal physiological functions, which is conducive to the full bloodletting when killing chickens and does not affect the colour of the chickens. Ingredients and cooking are the most critical processes. The fried chicken is put in the pot, and the soup is served with seasoning. It is boiled over a fire and then slowly boiled over a gentle fire. The shape of the roast chicken is unique. After the chicken body is cut, the chicken is propped up with a section of sorghum stalk to form a semicircle with two sharp ends, which is unique and beautiful. "Yixing Zhang" has been in operation for nearly three hundred years. Zhang Bing's roast chicken technology has been handed down from generation to generation, and has always maintained its unique flavor. Its color, fragrance, taste and rotten are called "Four Wonders".

Since then, Daokou roast chicken has been handed down from generation to generation, which not only inherits the family's unique skills, but also the centuries-old soup. However, in the old society, due to the heavy taxes imposed by the government, the exploitation of local powers and the extortion of hooligans, Daokou roast chicken suffered misfortune. After liberation, Daokou roast chicken was reborn and developed.

During the period of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, an emperor of Jiaqing visited the entrance of the corridor and was excited by the strange fragrance. He asked the people around him, "What gives out this fragrance?" "Broiled chicken" was the right and left answer. The entourage offered the roast chicken, and after Jiaqing tasted it, he said with great joy, "The colour, the fragrance and the taste are excellent". Since then, Daokou roast chicken has become a tribute of the Qing Dynasty. From generation to generation, Zhang Bing inherited and developed the exquisite skills of his ancestors, so that the "Yixing store" roast chicken has maintained its unique flavor. Since the 1970s, envoys and foreign guests from all countries in China have eaten "Daokou roast chicken", and they have all spoken highly of it. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, Zambian President Kaounda, Danish Prime Minister and other distinguished guests, after tasting the dish roast chicken, they were all amazed.

Mr. Zhang Changgui, Zhang Zhonghai's grandfather, was a member of the CPPCC of provinces and counties after liberation and a famous expert on roast chicken in China. The party and government's cordial care for him and the people's lofty honor for him make this old man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life feel grateful. In 1955, at the meeting of Henan Provincial Political Association, he generously and selflessly disclosed the secret recipes of his family's ancestors for more than 300 years, which was warmly welcomed by the people. Since then, Daokou roast chicken has been sold not only to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Ningxia, but also to Hong Kong in large quantities.

Daokou Town, Huaxian County, is known as the home of roast chicken. Lu De, the Chinese manager of a restaurant in the United States, once tasted the roast chicken at Daokou. He praised it: "The roast chicken at Daokou is fat but not greasy. It is delicious in color and taste. It needs no knife to eat. It shakes hands and separates the meat from the bone. Whether it's hot or cold, it's fragrant. Up to now, I still salivate.

People like Daokou roast chicken because of its rich fragrance, crisp fragrance and soft rotten, salty and palatable, ripe and broken bones, fat but not greasy. And freshly cooked chicken is like a treasure in shape and golden in color. These features are easy to say, but difficult to do.

In terms of rich aroma, Daokou roast chicken needs eight flavors of orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, Angelica dahurica, clove, straw fruit, Amomum and ginger, which are indispensable. Crispy fragrance is one of the most popular reasons at Daokou. It takes 3 to 5 hours to cook chicken alone. With the adjustment of the temperature, the production technology is very demanding.

The cooked chicken does not need knife cutting. It shakes gently with its hands. Bone and chicken are separated automatically. Needless to say, when you are hungry, even when you are full of wine and food, it will make you salivate.

Daokou roast chicken has five characteristics: good taste, crisp fragrance, soft rotten, salty and palatable, fat but not greasy. Eating does not require knife cutting, with a shake of the hand, the flesh and bones will be separated by themselves, whether hot or cold, the food is fragrant.

1. The "Yixing Zhang" roast chicken in Daokou Town of Huaxian County, commonly known as "Daokou roast chicken", has a long history of more than 300 years. Its shape is beautiful, fragrant and delicious, and it will disperse in a shake, fragrant, and will not decay for a long time. In 1956, the National Food Exhibition was awarded as a famous delicacy, and in 1981 was awarded as a high-quality product of the Ministry of Commerce. They are exported to Beijing, Xinjiang, Wuhan and Guiyang, and have branches in many cities. At the same time, canned products are sold abroad. According to the Record of Slipping County, "Yixing Zhang" roast chicken was founded in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (AD 1661). In the fifty-second year of Qianlong reign (1787 A.D.), Yao Shoushan, an imperial chef, taught Zhang Bing the knack of "to cook chicken incense, eight ingredients plus old soup", and introduced in detail the orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, angelica, amomum, straw fruit, eight flavors of ginger and their usage. Zhang Bing did the same after listening and made it. The roast chicken is delicious and unique. Later, Zhang Bing explored a whole set of experience from chicken selection, slaughter of torch feathers, cutting and supporting chicken shape, to fine frying, cooking and heat mastery, materials, soup and so on. His color, fragrance, taste and rotten taste were called "Four Greats" by the world. When a diner eats a roast chicken, he only needs to pick up the leg and shake it, and the bone and meat separate by themselves. Since then, the reputation of "Daokou roast chicken" has been booming, handed down from generation to generation, and widely praised, lasting for a long time.

2. The chicken is light red with yellowish color, the skin and meat are intact, salty with sweet, tender and delicious, and the chicken bones will come off as soon as touched.

Tips

1. No knife is needed for eating. If you shake your hands, the flesh and bones will be separated. No matter how hot or cold you eat, your mouth will be full of fragrance.

2. When brine is made, it takes about 4 hours to boil from boiling pot, and the soup used in brine can be used later, which is called old brine.