Salt Baked Chicken

Salt Baked Chicken (Simplified Chinese: 盐焗鸡; Traditional Chinese: 鹽焗雞; Pinyin: Yán jú jī; Cantonese: yàhm gūk gāi) is a Hakka / Dongjiang classic in which a whole chicken is wrapped and cooked in a bed of hot coarse salt, yielding savory skin and moist meat. It is listed among Dongjiang signature dishes on Guangdong Food.

Characteristics

Flavor is salty-aromatic rather than soy-glazed; meat stays juicy. Restaurant shortcuts may use salt-baked spice packs or oven methods instead of a full salt mound.

Ingredients (overview)

Whole chicken, coarse salt, ginger, scallion, optional sand ginger or spice rub, parchment or paper wrap. Not the same as soy-poached Soy Sauce Chicken or chilled White Cut Chicken.

History and culture

A Hakka identity dish of eastern Guangdong on Guangdong Food, often paired rhetorically with Mei Cai Kou Rou. Distinct from northern salt-baked poultry variants.

Serving and variations

Chopped and served warm or room temperature, often with sand-ginger salt. See Guangdong Food and Mei Cai Kou Rou.

See also

• Guangdong Food
• Mei Cai Kou Rou
• White Cut Chicken
• Soy Sauce Chicken
• Beggar’s Chicken
• List of dishes (A-Z)