About the origin of "Beggar's Chicken", please use English! Around 90 words.

beggar's chicken

Long, long ago, a beggar found his way to Changshu Town in Jiangsu Province. He was weak to the point of collapse. In order to revive him his fellow beggars collected and burned wood to warm him. One of them generously volunteered to cook his only chicken for the poor unfortunate.

This, however, presented the problem of how to cook a fowl with no implements and vessels. Someone in the company had the idea of ??coating the chicken in mud and placing it in the fire to bake. After the ball of sludge-covered chicken in mud in the fire for what seemed sufficient time, the beggar cook knocked off the mud and was pleasantly surprised when the chicken feathers also fell away and released a mouthwatering aroma that attracted a crowd of curious passersby. All that tasted the dish were intrigued by the way it had been cooked and captivated by its distinctive flavor.

Later , the Louwailou Restaurant in Hangzhou adapted the dish by stuffing the chicken with seasoning, wrapping it in West Lake lotus leaves and coating it with a mixture of mud and Shaoxing wine. After being baked for three to four hours, the dish would be served in its mud chrysalis and cracked open before the diners.

Marinate the chicken in soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine and salt for one hour. Grind two cloves and star anise into powder and spread over the chicken.

Heat oil in wok. Add minced ginger and scallions and stir-fry. Add diced chicken, lean pork, shelled shrimps, ham and mushroom and stir-fry until done. After letting the mixture cool, stuff the chicken with it and scallion stalk.

Put a clove under each wing. Coat the chicken in vegetable oil and wrap it first in the lotus leaves and then in the sheet of cellophane. Fasten with a length of hemp.

Grind the mud into powder, mix with water and spread on a piece of wet cloth. Lay the tied chicken in the middle and evenly transfer the mud from cloth to chicken. Discard the cloth, and bind the chicken in paper. Bake in oven on a high heat for 40 minutes. Open the oven and check for cracks in the coating. Fill in cracks as necessary. Keep on baking for half an hour, lower heat and cook for a further 90 minutes. Reduce heat still further and cook for another 90 minutes.

Remove the chicken, and knock off the mud. Remove lotus leaves and cellophane. Sprinkle on sesame oil and serve.

This is a traditional Hangzhou dish . Cooking it in a sealed envelope preserves the original taste enhanced by the flavor of wine and that has permeated the chicken and can be smelt upon cracking open the mud casing. This is both a nutritious dish and interesting conversation piece.

< p>INGREDIENTS:

One chicken, about 1000 grams

50 grams diced chicken

30 grams diced ham

100 grams lean pork

50 grams shelled shrimps

20 grams diced mushrooms

4 fresh lotus leaves

3000 grams mud

50 grams Shaoxing cooking wine

5 grams salt

100 grams oil

25 grams scallion sections

1 scallion stalk

< p>10 grams minced ginger

4 cloves

2 star anise

50 grams sesame oil