DISH RESEARCH · Main dish
Beggar's chicken
Also known as: 叫花鸡
Stuffed Chinese baby chicken enclosed in lotus leaves and a flour casing.
About Beggar's chicken
School of Wok’s Beggar’s Chicken uses a whole poussin filled with pork, shiitake mushrooms and Chinese pickled cabbage. This selected version wraps the bird in lotus leaves and an outer flour-and-water casing.
Dark soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, ginger and salt season the chicken. Light soy sauce, spring onion, sugar, sesame oil and five-spice powder give the stuffing its savoury aromatic character.
The source describes the chicken as juicy. Its filled whole-bird form remains enclosed through oven cooking; the exterior dough is recorded as a casing rather than described as an edible pastry crust.
Allergens in this recipe
Contains: Wheat (gluten), Soy, Sesame.
Other allergen details are unconfirmed.
Ingredients vary by restaurant. Confirm your allergens with staff before ordering.
Ingredients in Beggar's chicken
School of Wok’s lotus-leaf Beggar’s Chicken with a dough casing.
- Whole baby chicken (poussin)Protein
- Lotus leavesBase
- WaterLiquid · Outer casing
- Plain flourBase · Outer casing
- Dark soy sauceSeasoning · Marinade
- Chinese rice wineLiquid · Marinade and stuffing
- GingerAromatic · Marinade
- SaltSeasoning · Marinade and stuffing
- Dried shiitake mushroomsFilling · Stuffing
- Lean pork loin steakFilling · Stuffing
- Chinese pickled cabbageFilling · Stuffing
- Spring onion endsAromatic · Stuffing
- Light soy sauceSeasoning · Stuffing
- Granulated sugarSweetener · Stuffing
- Sesame oilFinish · Stuffing
- Five-spice powderSeasoning · Stuffing
- OilCooking medium · Stuffing
Ingredient details & uncertainties
Allergen information is incomplete. Unconfirmed details do not establish that an allergen is absent.
- Whole baby chicken (poussin): Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Broader chicken candidate; whole poussin retained.
- Lotus leaves: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Source leaf wrapping selected instead of aluminium foil; enclosing layer, not asserted eaten.
- Water: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
- Plain flour: Wheat. Broader wheat-flour candidate; ordinary plain flour supports Wheat. Exterior casing role retained, not asserted eaten.
- Dark soy sauce: Soy. Soy confirmed; full sauce formula and additional cereal identity unresolved.
- Chinese rice wine: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Rice-wine choice selected instead of dry sherry; broader rice-wine candidate, not assumed Shaoxing.
- Ginger: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
- Salt: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
- Dried shiitake mushrooms: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Broader shiitake candidate; dried form retained.
- Lean pork loin steak: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
- Chinese pickled cabbage: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Broader pickled-cabbage candidate; exact Chinese preparation/full formula unresolved.
- Spring onion ends: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Broader spring-onion candidate; source ends retained.
- Light soy sauce: Soy. Soy confirmed; full sauce formula and additional cereal identity unresolved.
- Granulated sugar: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
- Sesame oil: Sesame
- Five-spice powder: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Compound spice formula unresolved; no assumed five-component list.
- Oil: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Explicit method-only oil for frying pork and spring onions; botanical source unspecified.
Origins & food traditions
Cuisines & regions
- Chinese Cuisine
- Zhejiang cuisineCatalogue link pending review
- Jiangsu cuisineCatalogue link pending review
AI-generated illustration of one possible presentation. Recipes and ingredients vary; the image does not establish allergen content.