Sichuan Pepper Salt Chicken 椒盐米鸡

Sichuan Pepper Salt Chicken (椒盐米鸡) is a traditional banquet dish of Wuhu (芜湖), Anhui: a whole boned chicken filled with a glutinous-rice 'eight treasures' (八宝) stuffing, pressed, breadcrumbed and deep-fried. In 2018 the China Cuisine Association (中国烹饪协会) named it one of the ten classic dishes of Anhui cuisine.

How it is made

The dish depends on knife work. The cook takes the bones out of a whole chicken and packs the body with an eight-treasure filling based on glutinous rice. The stuffed bird is steamed, then pressed under a heavy weight so that the meat and the filling bond into a firm, compact mass. This is coated in beaten egg, rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried; once cooked it is cut up and arranged on the plate in the shape of the chicken. This is what sets it apart from ordinary eight-treasure chicken (八宝鸡). The Wuhu city government notes that the many steps and the skill required meant only experienced chefs could make it, and for a time the dish faded from view.

Flavour and texture

Every piece of chicken carries some of the eight-treasure filling. The skin is crisp and the meat tender, the seasoning goes all the way through, and the rice picks up the savour of the chicken while the chicken takes on the fragrance of the rice.

Where it comes from

Writing in 2024, the Wuhu city government recalls that as early as twenty years before, the dish was a guest of honour at Wuhu banquets and a typical banquet course. In 2018, at the first 'Chinese Cuisine to the World' (向世界发布“中国菜”) event in Zhengzhou (郑州), the China Cuisine Association published its list of classic regional dishes. The ten Anhui entries, put forward by the provincial catering and cooking associations, included Sichuan Pepper Salt Chicken alongside Tunxi stinky mandarin fish (屯溪臭鳜鱼) and Bagong Mountain tofu (八公山豆腐); it was the only one of the ten from Wuhu. Since that listing the traditional technique has been taken up again.