Tongjiang Silver Ear Chicken Soup 通江银耳炖鸡
Tongjiang Silver Ear Chicken Soup is featured among the local specialties of Sichuan.
Tongjiang Silver Ear Chicken Soup (通江银耳炖鸡) is the slow-simmered chicken and silver-ear soup of Tongjiang in Bazhong, Sichuan, built on a fungus the county has grown on logs for well over a century.
Long, quiet simmering
The cooking logic follows the ingredient. Tongjiang’s own chronicle of the mushroom says the dried ear rehydrates to a large volume and 易炖化 — it breaks down readily — and that a properly cooked silver-ear broth turns 丝滑不断, silky and unbroken. The county’s companion dish, silver ear with lotus seed, is simmered for up to three hours until the ingredients merge. Putting chicken in the same pot follows the same reasoning: the bird is cooked long enough to give the stock its base, while the ear is given time to soften and thicken the liquid rather than to stay firm.
Gelatinous texture and a clean broth
Silver ear is prized for texture more than for flavour. Tongjiang describes the dried product as thick, springy and fragrant, with a pronounced aroma when dried, and the cooked result as silky — the fungus gives the soup body, a faint sweetness and a slight gelatinous slide rather than a mushroom taste. In a chicken version the bird supplies the savoury depth and the ear supplies the texture, so the bowl reads as clean and light rather than rich, and the seasoning is normally just salt, which lets the ear stay the point of the dish.
Why Tongjiang grows silver ear
Tongjiang was formally named China’s silver-ear township in 1995, and the county is the origin area of log-grown 段木 ear. The production sequence its own account lays out runs through building the growing shed, cutting timber, sawing logs, drying, inoculating, incubating, arranging, picking, washing and drying — and in 2019 the county’s traditional silver-ear production skill was listed as provincial intangible cultural heritage. The mushroom is a protected geographical indication product, and it shows up across the county’s official snack list in savoury and sweet forms alike.
Ear, chicken and little else
The two main ingredients are the silver ear and a chicken, with salt and usually nothing more; some kitchens add goji berries or a few slices of ginger, and the county’s own snack list shows the ear used with lotus seed and in a chicken-douhua dish. The ear is a fungus rather than a mushroom with a strong flavour, so it does not usually raise allergy concerns the way shellfish would, but the soup is a meat dish and not vegetarian. Ask 是土鸡吗 (is it free-range chicken), 炖多久 (how long is it simmered) and 有没有加莲子和枸杞 (is lotus seed or goji added) if the details matter.
Ordering a pot of soup
This is a shared dish, so order by size: 一盅 (one small pot), 一锅 (one pot), 几个人喝 (how many people). Because the ear needs long cooking, it is usually made in advance rather than to order, which means asking 现炖的还是提前炖好的 (cooked to order or in advance) is a fair question — the answer tells you what to expect from the texture. If you want the bowl to stay light, ask 少放盐 or have the salt brought separately, since a long reduction concentrates whatever went in early.
How to eat it
Serve it hot as a soup course, drinking the broth and eating the softened ear with a spoon; the chicken is taken out and shared, or left in for people to help themselves. Because the soup is clean and mildly sweet rather than spicy, it sits early in a Sichuan meal, before the chilli-heavy dishes, or at the end of a rich meal as something quiet. The broth is the part worth finishing, and if it has thickened it can also be poured over plain rice rather than eaten on its own.
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Qu County Daylily Chicken Stew 渠县黄花炖鸡 →
Qu County Daylily Chicken Stew (渠县黄花炖鸡) is the same construction in a neighbouring county: a local plant speciality — daylily — simmered with chicken into a clean, gently sweet soup. Tong jiang yin er dun ji swaps the daylily for log-grown silver ear, whose role is texture: it rehydrates to a large volume and softens into a silky, slightly gelatinous broth rather than dissolving into sweetness. Both are slow chicken soups from eastern Sichuan, and the difference between them is the character of the local ingredient.
Questions before you order
What does the silver ear add to the soup?
Texture rather than flavour. Tongjiang’s account describes the rehydrated ear as expanding greatly and breaking down readily in long cooking, leaving a broth that is silky and thick instead of clear.
How long should it simmer?
The county’s related silver-ear and lotus-seed soup is slow-simmered for up to three hours, which is the timescale this fungus needs — so expect a pot made in advance rather than to order.
Sources & reading
The supplied food list supports this name and regional association. The culinary terms below are explained as menu vocabulary; a local recipe, origin story and venue availability have not been independently verified.