Deciding on a Beijing Dish

This Week’s Film: Green Tea

Cuisine: Chinese

Also known as Mandarin cuisine, Beijing cuisine is both diverse and delicious. Its origins date back to the Qing Dynasty, and there are hundreds of traditional dishes to choose from. Choices include the ever-popular Mushu Pork, the famed Peking Duck, and the ubiquitous potsticker (pictured).

One of the most interesting Mandarin dishes I?ve made over the years is called Beggar?s Chicken. The original preparation technique involves wrapping a whole stuffed chicken in lotus leaves and coating it with clay that hardens into a brittle shell for diners to break at the table. But the modern interpretation substitutes a basic flour-and-water dough instead of clay for the shell.

The dish gets its name from a Chinese legend in which a vagabond purloins a chicken, and hides it from the emperor and his guards by coating it in clay and tossing it into the fire. Follow the link to read the rest of the story.

My Beggar?s Chicken recipe will be posted at the end of the week, along with my Green Tea film review.