Chinese Recipes: Chicken
From The Chinese Cook Book by Shiu Wong Chan, 1917.
From: Unknown To: 1917 C.E.
Location: China
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Chinese Cook Book by Shiu Wong Chan, 1917.
Almond Chicken: Hung Yuen Guy Ding
2 cups almonds
2 cups onions cut into dice
2 cups water chestnuts cut into dice
2 cups mushrooms cut into dice
1 cup celery cut into dice
1 pound chicken, without bones
(a) Skin the almonds by putting in boiling water. Fry in boiling oil until they turn yellow.
(b) Put the water chestnuts, onions, mushrooms, and celery in a hot cooking pan containing some oil, and fry rapidly. Keep them moving, so that each particle receives the same amount of heat. Add water enough to cover and boil for 15 minutes.
(c) Put the chicken in a hot oiled pan and fry for 2 minutes. Add enough primary soup to cover, and cook, with the cover on, for 10 minutes.
(d) Add Chinese gravy. Take from the stove at once.
(e) Put the chicken on a dish and add the secondary vegetables (onions, water chestnuts, etc.) . On top of this put the almonds.
Chicken Chop Suey: Chow Guy Pin
1 chicken cut into fragments
2 cups water chestnuts
2 cups mushrooms
2 cups bamboo shoots
2 cups celery cut into thin pieces
This dish is not known in China. From the name it means simply a variety of small pieces. However, the principles of Chinese cooking are the same.
(a) Put the water chestnuts, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and celery into a hot pan containing oil. Fry for 2 minutes. Add water and cook for 15 minutes.
(b) Put the chicken in a frying-pan containing oil and fry for 5 minutes.
(c) Add the secondary vegetables and mix well.
(d) Add enough primary soup to cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
(e) Add Chinese gravy and stir. Remove from the stove at once.
Chestnut Chicken: Lut Ge Guy
1 cup chicken
2 cups chestnuts
2 cups water chestnuts
2 cups mushrooms
(a) Cut the chicken into pieces 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inches. Cut the chestnuts, water chestnuts, and mushrooms into big pieces.
(b) Rub salt and a little Chinese sauce on the chicken. Then put into a pot of boiling oil until the color becomes yellow.
(c) Now put into primary soup and boil until nearly soft.
(d) Add the secondary vegetables and cook until done.
No gravy is necessary with Lut Ge Guy.
Serve hot and add parsley for garnish.
Chicken Hash: Guy Sung
1 chicken cut into very small pieces
2 cups each of water chestnuts, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoonful of ginger juice
1/2 teaspoonful of Fun Wine
1 head of lettuce cut into threads
1 tablespoonful of Chinese ham cut into dice
1 handful of fried noodles
(a) Fry the chopped chicken in a hot, oiled pan.
(b) Add the ginger juice and Fun Wine. Then the chopped water chestnuts, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Mix well.
(c) Add enough primary soup to cover and cook until done.
(d) Add Chinese gravy and remove from the stove at once.
(e) Salt to suit the taste.
Serve on top of lettuce. Use the Chinese ham dice and the fried noodles as a garnish.
Chicken Thread: Guy Sue
1 chicken cut into threads
2 cups bamboo shoots
2 cups Chinese mushrooms
(a) Cook the bamboo shoots and mushrooms for 20 minutes. Then mix with the chicken.
(b) Add enough primary soup to cover and cook for 5 minutes.
(c) Add Chinese gravy and remove from the stove at once.
Fried Chicken: Gar Gee Guy
(a) Put 3 spring chickens, of about 2 pounds each, into a jar of Chinese sauce for 10 minutes.
(b) Place in a pan of boiling oil and fry until the chickens turn yellow.
(c) Cut up and serve hot.
Use spicery salt on top of the chicken. To make spicery salt, fry together for 15 minutes an equal amount of spicery powder and salt. Have a low fire and turn frequently to prevent burning.
Walnut Chicken: Hop Too Guy Ding
3 cups English walnuts
2 cups onions cut into dice
2 cups water chestnuts cut into dice
1 1/2 cups celery cut into dice
1 pound of chicken without bones
(a) Remove the skins from the walnuts by placing them in boiling water. Then fry them in boiling oil until they turn yellow.
(b) Put the secondary vegetables in a hot cooking-pan containing oil and fry for 2 or 3 minutes. Keep them moving so that each particle receives the same amount of heat. Add enough primary soup to cover and boil for 15 minutes.
(c) Put the chicken in a hot, oiled pan and fry for 2 minutes.
(d) Add the vegetables.
(e) Add Chinese gravy and remove from the stove.
Place on a dish and garnish with the fried walnuts.
Pineapple Chicken: Bor Lor Guy
1 chicken
1 can pineapple
2 cups green peppers
2 cups celery
1 cup canned sour ginger
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup Fun Wine
2 eggs
(a) Cut the chicken, pineapple, peppers, celery, and ginger into pieces 1 1/2 inches long.
(b) Break the eggs into the chicken and mix well together with a little cornstarch and salt. Then put into boiling oil and fry until all becomes yellow.
(c) Put the pineapple, pepper, celery, and ginger into a hot, oiled pan and fry for 2 minutes. Add the fried chicken. Mix well and add the Fun Wine. Cook over a hot fire for 5 minutes; then add enough primary soup to cover and cook until about one cup of liquid is left.
(d) Add the vinegar and a little sugar.
(e) Pour Chinese gravy over the chicken.
Mix well together, and serve at once.
Salt Chicken: Yim Guy
1 whole chicken dried well inside and out
Rock salt enough to cover the chicken
1/4 cup of spicery salt
(a) Put the salt into a hot pan and leave over the fire until the salt gets very hot.
(b) In a suitable pan bury the chicken in this hot salt, covering the chicken entirely. Cover the pan and keep air-tight for 2 hours.
(c) Take out the chicken and shake off all salt.
(d) Cut up the chicken and sprinkle the spicery salt over it. Chicken prepared in this way tastes delicious, and is not salty.
Pan Chicken: Watt Guy
1 cup lily flower
1 cup fungus
2 cups dry mushrooms
1 chicken
A small piece of ginger root, without the skin
1/4 cup of Fun Wine
(a) Soak the lily flower, fungus, and the mushrooms in cold water for 1/2 hour.
(b) Wash the chicken inside and outside with Chinese sauce. Put in a pan with oil and fry for 10 minutes. Add the Fun Wine and salt. Add 2 cups of water.
(c) Now put all into a small pot and add the lily flower, fungus, mushrooms, and ginger. Keep cover on tight and cook for 1/2 hour over a slow fire.
This is the most delicious chicken ever known.
Bird-Nest in Chicken: Fong Tung Yuen
1 1/2 cups bird-nest
1 large whole chicken (at least 7 pounds)
1 bowl primary soup
1 tablespoonful Chinese ham
(a) Soak the bird-nest in cold water for 1 hour. Then wash gently and cook for 1 hour with a piece of ginger.
(b) Pick the chicken, chop off the head, feet and wings, cut 1 line 4 inches long and take out the interior. Clean the chicken and rub inside and outside with salt. Place in a bowl with the cut side on top.
(c) Fill the chicken with the bird-nest and the primary soup. Steam for 3 hours in a double-boiler.
(d) Now transfer into a second bowl by using a bowl a little larger than the first bowl and putting this second bowl on top of the first bowl mouth to mouth.
Garnish with the Chinese ham dice.
Steamed Chicken: Ging Guy
1 chicken cut into pieces about 1 1/2 inches long
2 cups mushrooms
A few slices of ginger root
4 pieces of red dates
1 Chinese onion
Cornstarch, sauce, salt, and oil
(a) Mix well the chicken, oil, salt, cornstarch, and sauce.
(b) Add mushrooms, ginger root, and red dates. Put on a plate and steam for 1/2 hour.
(c) Add Chinese onion cut into threads 1 1/2 inches long.
Garnish with parsley. Serve with mustard, sauce, and oil.
Roast Chicken: Sue Guy
2 chickens (about 4 pounds each)
2 teaspoonfuls spicery powder
2 cups Chinese sauce
A few drops of sesamum-seed oil
2 teaspoonfuls salt
(a) Put the chickens in hot, not boiling, water for 2 minutes and then add the spicery powder, sauce, oil, and salt. Leave the chickens in for 20 minutes. Be sure every bit of chicken is dipped into it.
(b) Place the chickens as shown in the diagram, having first started the fire, that the wall is hot. Roast for 1 hour.
A hot fire is necessary before the chickens are put into the stove; after the chickens are in, the fire must be kept low. There must be no smoke.
Chan, Shiu Wong. The Chinese Cook Book. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
