Longyou Spicy Chicken 龙游辣子鸡

Longyou Spicy Chicken (龙游辣子鸡) is the Longyou (龙游) county version of spicy chilli chicken, from Quzhou (衢州) in Zhejiang. CCTV's food programme Weidao (味道) says it is less red than the Sichuan dish of the same name but has taken on the essence of the Sichuan and Chongqing dish, which is heat.

Ingredients

The difference lies in the chilli. Where the Sichuan dish uses red chillies, the Longyou one uses the white chilli peculiar to the area, which Weidao calls the dish's best supporting player; another episode says a handful of it brings out the full flavour of the chicken. For the bird, Longyou cooks use what they call 'flying chickens' (飞鸡), and a third episode advises choosing a chicken whose skin will not tear.

Where it comes from

Weidao's episode set in Sanmenyuan (三门源), which it describes as one of the oldest villages in Longyou, presents Longyou white chilli and the Longyou speckled chicken (麻鸡) as local varieties found only in the county. The programme's 2018 series on remembered New Year flavours included the dish in its Longyou episode, and a 2021 episode on Longyou food singled out its distinctive texture.