Guitar clangs, Beggar’s Chicken

Beggar’s Chicken 叫化鸡 is a simple yet brilliant concept: a whole chicken is covered in clay and baked, resulting in utterly succulent and fragrant meat. Today, clay is often replaced with dough or oven bags.

We prepared it with friends beside a small stream that flows next to Xintian village 新田村 (in Shuitou town 水头镇 of Fogang county 佛冈县 in Guangdong province). The mud from the river proved to be a terrific encasement, and the presence of campfire elevated the experience far beyond any restaurant or home oven affair. Guitar clangs, singing and the clink of beer bottles followed.