Why 'Salt Baked Chicken' ?

Yamgukgai ^[1] or in Chinese characters 鹽焗雞 literally means 'salt baked chicken'. It is quintessentially a Hakka^[2] dish and this Hakka connection is why I have chosen to call this blog "yamgukgai".

The dish requires a clean whole chicken which is to be is seasoned, and its cavity flavoured with salt, ginger and spring onions and perhaps some star anise, then it is wrapped in parchment or grease paper, and baked in hot salt until done. The salt is prepared by heating in a wok and often until it begins to colour. The wrapped chicken is then buried in the hot salt on the stove for an hour and a half to cook through. The result is an aromatic chicken with juicy tender meat.

Hakka 客家 literally means 'guest families' and points to a history of migration which will be discussed in a future entry. It now refers to a group of southern Chinese who speak dialects which are grouped together as Hakka. They can be found in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Zhejiang, Taiwan, Sichuan, Guizhou and around the world.

Characters, [IPA], Romanisation & Meaning

^[1] 鹽焗雞 [ [jam₁₁ kuk₅ kai₃₃ ] yam² guk⁶ gai¹ salt baked chicken
^[2] 客家 [ hak₃ ka₃₃] hak⁵ ga¹ Hakka, guest families, the Hakka people, the Hakka language