A Braise That Doubles as Hotpot
Xueci Cheng is back with this Spicy Braised Chicken With Taro. She based the recipe on a meal she had recently in Chengdu, and I'm going to quote her at length because it's so dang enlightening!
"Last winter while I was visiting Chengdu, some college friends and I gathered for a small reunion. The locals in our group were entrusted with finding a hidden gem restaurant—somewhere that hadn’t been hyped on social media or Chinese Yelp. We ended up at a humble eatery tucked deep in a residential block in the southern part of the city that specializes in just one dish: braised chicken with taro (yùér jī, 芋儿鸡). The restaurant accepts reservations only by phone, and you have to pre-order the amount of chicken in advance. In Sichuan’s fiercely competitive restaurant scene, this kind of exclusivity hinted that we were in for something special.
"Within minutes of our arrival a big stainless steel pot had been placed before us. It was filled with braised chicken pieces plus taro and bamboo shoots, all submerged in a luscious red broth. After we devoured the chicken, the pot was simmered again, this time with chicken gizzards, blood tofu and some vegetable sides. The chicken was tender, the taro buttery, the bamboo shoots crunchy—a deeply satisfying meal for a chilly winter night in Chengdu."
Xueci goes on to explain that "the dish is a staple of jiānghú cài (江湖菜), a genre of Chongqing-style Sichuan cuisine. This culinary trend, which emerged in the 1980s, blends country-style cooking with hotpot traditions. Known for its bold mala flavors and heavy use of aromatics, jianghu cai often features fresh ingredients like freshwater fish, rabbit and chicken, which are typically served in large plates or pots, sometimes over a flame, hotpot-style. One famous example is fiery Chongqing Geleshan lazi ji (歌乐山辣子鸡). This style remains a cornerstone of Sichuan and Chongqing's culinary identity, and its popularity and influence have spread all across China."
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