Wenchang Chicken

Wenchang chicken is Hainan's most celebrated traditional dish, said to originate in Tianci village of Tanju town in Wenchang, with over four hundred years of rearing behind it; prized for smooth tender flesh, thin crisp skin, deep aroma and richness without heaviness, it stands first among Hainan's four great dishes.

Legend holds that the breed's ancestors pecked banyan seeds in Wenchang and grew uncommonly fine; by the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty its fame had spread. Old houses such as Yanjiang have carried the trade for a century, handing down the rearing and cooking, which entered the Hainan provincial ICH list in 2009.

The classic form is white-cut: a whole bird is gently poached over low heat, chopped and served with a dip of pounded ginger, garlic, calamansi juice and salt, the flesh fresh and tender in its own taste, the centrepiece of Hainan family feasts.

The golden skin and white flesh over crisp bones, paired with a ginger-calamansi dip, are the clearest marks of Wenchang chicken and what sets it apart from white-cut chicken elsewhere.