Banquet braised whole chicken

What it is

A 'kung fu dish' (功夫菜), the term for slow, labour-heavy banquet cooking. The chicken stays whole and cooks with mushrooms, chestnuts and other aromatics. 扣 (kou) refers to the finish, when the steamed bird is turned out onto a plate. After so many hours the meat comes away from the bone at a touch of the chopsticks.

Where it came from

The dish belongs to bando (辦桌), the large banquets held, often in a marquee by the road or on a temple square, for weddings, funerals, housewarmings and festivals. The custom dates to the Qing era, when migrants from Fujian and Guangdong brought their banquet traditions to Taiwan. A head chef (總舖師) sets the menu, and in villages neighbours once lent pots, bowls and stoves and helped cook.

Chicken carries a fixed meaning on these tables. Eating it stands for 起家, building up a household, so a housewarming feast must include it. Braised 'sealed' chicken (封雞) is also a standard dish for New Year offerings and the New Year's Eve meal, beside sealed pork (封肉).

Tsai Jui-cheng (蔡瑞成), a Tainan banquet chef of 30 years, says a good banquet-tail soup (菜尾湯) once depended on this dish. That soup gathers the leftovers of every course into one pot, to be shared with neighbours and helpers.

How it is made

At Dong Shang in Tainan the chicken is first cooked in water, then deep-fried in oil above 200°C until the skin crisps. Shiitake, chestnuts, garlic, ginger, dried flatfish and spring onion are fried, then simmered with pineapple to make the braising liquid. The chicken braises in it, steams, and is turned out onto a plate under a sauce of soy, rock sugar, pepper and plum syrup (梅露). The process takes at least ten hours.

How to eat it

It is a dish for a group, set in the middle of the banquet or family table and shared. Chicken is also expected among the New Year offerings. Because of the long cooking, restaurants need notice: Dong Shang asks for orders at least two days ahead.