Shiqi Roast Pigeon

Shiqi pigeon is a signature dish made from the "Shiqi pigeon" bred around Zhongshan's Shiqi; the classic preparation is roast pigeon—first marinated in a secret master stock, dried and glazed with a crisp-skin water, then flash-fried until golden-red, the skin shatteringly crisp and the flesh juicy and fragrant with flavour bursting from the bones, as the saying goes, "one pigeon is worth nine chickens."

The breed traces to 1915, when Zhongshan emigrants brought American White King and Homing pigeons home to cross with local birds; in the 1930s more were brought from Japan, and the Shiqi pigeon was bred for the Pearl River Delta, later earning a national agricultural geographical indication. The roast version was created in the kitchen of Macau's Fo Sio Lou, making the dish famous at home and abroad.

Served whole and eaten by hand while piping hot, diners first suck the juices from the bones then tear the flesh, with salt-and-pepper or Worcestershire sauce on the side; in every Zhongshan eatery and old house alike it is the irreplaceable centrepiece, the headline dish of banquets and family meals.

The golden-red crackling skin, the juicy tender flesh and the fragrant seasoned bone cavity, with the folk praise of "one pigeon worth nine chickens," are the unmistakable marks of Shiqi roast pigeon.