Also known as braised chicken with yellow mud, it is made from tender hens by a unique method. It is not only a traditional dish in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, but also a world-famous delicacy. It was once rated as a special food in Jiangsu Province.

According to legend, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there was a beggar in Yushan, Changshu, Jiangsu Province. He usually begged for some leftovers to satisfy his hunger. Sometimes it was difficult to get a bowl of leftovers a day, so he had to starve. On this day, he was very lucky. In addition to some food to satisfy his hunger, he met a kind-hearted old lady and gave him an old hen. He danced with joy. But he is a beggar, and he has nothing but a broken bowl in his hand. How can he cook this chicken? He thought for a long time, but he didn't come up with a good idea. Suddenly, he had a brainwave and a plan came to him. He found a family nearby, borrowed a knife from his master, slaughtered the chicken, removed its internal organs, dug some yellow mud on the surface of the chicken, took the branches and leaves of dead trees to light a fire, and put the wrapped chicken in the fire to stew. When the mud was dry, he estimated that the chicken was cooked, so he knocked off the mud shell with a stick and the chicken feathers fell off with the mud. Suddenly, the aroma was overflowing, and the beggar was very surprised. So he picked up the chicken and wolfed it down. Just as the beggar was eager to eat, Qian Muzhai, a college student of Ming Dynasty, walked by here, smelled the smell of chicken, and saw the beggar eating chicken far away, so he sent someone to inquire how the beggar cooked such delicious chicken. Sent someone to inquire about it, and took a small piece of chicken to Qian Muzhai. After Qian Muzhai tasted it, he felt that the taste was really unusual. When he got home, he asked the chef to make it according to the beggar's method, and added diced meat, ham, shrimp and spices to the chicken belly, wrapped it in lotus leaves, coated it with yellow mud, baked it in the fire, and named it "beggar chicken". One day, Liu Rushi, a famous prostitute in the south of the Yangtze River, came to Qian's house, and Qian treated her with beggar chicken and asked Liu Rushi, "What's the flavor of Yushan?" Liu said, "It's delicious" and said, "I'd rather eat Yushan chicken for life than Songjiang fish for a day".

The beggar chicken has a history of more than 300 years. It is said that Changshu Shanjingyuan Restaurant was the first to manage beggar chicken, which was refined and perfected on the basis of folk methods. It was renamed "Stewed Chicken with Yellow Mud" and became one of the famous dishes in China, especially in Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou areas. Hangzhou's famous Hangbang dish "Jiaohua Chicken" also came from this. Now this dish enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad, and it is often used as the most precious China dish in Japanese banquets.