Beggar's chicken (Jiao hua ji)

Beggar's chicken is a Chinese delicacy and the city of Hangzhou's most famous dish, consisting of only one ingredient - a whole chicken. The secret is in the preparation method: the stuffed chicken is tightly wrapped in lotus leaves, packed in clay, and baked in a special oven or over an open fire, resulting in tender, moist, and aromatic meat, along with being one of the visually most interesting dishes in existence.

Once the dish has been served, the hard outer shell is often cracked open with a hammer. Legend has it that a starving beggar was in possession of a chicken but had no means to prepare it, so in a stroke of genius, he covered it with mud and baked it over an open fire.

A Qing-dynasty Emperor happened to walk by and was attracted by the aroma, so he stopped and consumed it with the beggar. He liked it so much that he added it to the list of dishes to be served at the Imperial court. Today, the dish is enjoyed either in restaurants or as a street food, with the meat falling off the bone, and the lotus leaves giving it its signature fragrance.