Zhengding Ma Family Braised Chicken

The Ma family braised chicken comes from Zhengding County in Shijiazhuang—the ancient seat of Zhending and Changshan—and is said to date from the Qing dynasty, a long-standing Hui speciality of the old town. The Zhengding-born writer Jia Dashan celebrated it in his fiction, leaving the praise that "Zhengding's braised chicken has been famed since olden times, and the Ma family's…", making it a symbol of the old city's flavour.

The Ma family braised chicken is known for its bright red-gold colour and glossy, even skin, eating clean without tearing, falling just short of the bone, neither stringy nor cloying, high in protein and low in fat, so tender one never tires of it—a must-taste local dish for any visit to the old city of Zhengding.

The craft uses free-range birds, dressed and shaped, glazed with honey and fried to set the colour, then gently steeped in a master卤 broth built from many spices and renewed over time, demanding precise heat so the fragrance reaches the bone, embodying the essence of Zhengding's Hui braising tradition.