Ever heard of "Beggar’s Chicken"?

[Delmar]

Here is the story from the website that tells about it.
http://redcook.net/2009/07/08/chicken-clay-grill/

"A starving beggar in China during the Qing dynasty is said to have stolen a chicken and was hotly pursued by its owner. In his haste he buried the chicken in mud near a riverbank to hide it. Later that night he returned and retrieved the chicken, its feathers covered in mud. He started a fire of twigs and branches to cook the chicken. But not having any utensils he placed the entire chicken directly into the fire. A tight clay crust formed as the fowl cooked, and when the crust was cracked open the feathers came right off the chicken exposing juicy tender meat and emitting an incredible aroma. The roasted chicken was so delicious he decided to start selling his creation to the villagers. Unbeknownst to him he had just invented one of the greatest culinary traditions of China."

He cooked it with the feathers on! I wonder if the guy in the original story even gutted the thing? What would happen if you removed the intestines after it was roasted?

 

[NYREDS]

No idea about the vereacity of this story but I do know, from personal experience, that the Chineses do sometimes cook a chickens with the entrails intact.

 

[mrs b. bates farm]

when i first started cooking i accidentally cooked the tha ksgivng turkey with some of the insides inside it and it made the whole bird taste nasty..and it smelled.. so i would guess it would be even worse with all of them in.

 

[Delmar]

I have got to try this! The worst that could happen is, one of my chickens ends up as dog food! I'm going to try covering a chicken with mud and putting it in a cooking bag and throwing it in a roaster.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
You're joking right?

At least kick the "slather it in mud" part.

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
You're joking right?

Not joking I am really intrigued!

At least kick the "slather it in mud" part.

The mud seems like the most important part. Without it the feathers would smolder and stink, would they not?​

 

[Illia]

It would stink and go bad anyway with the guts still in the chicken. The mud would add on to the affect, especially if the mud has any deteriorating matter, bugs, or related things in it.


Think of it - The heat would expand, explode, or simply melt much of the digestive tract as well as the gallbladder; the fumes and liquids would seep into the rest of the flesh, and, ugh. . . Gross.

 

[stoopid]

But the "mud"can't be in a bag, it has to dry out and seal in the juices. I've heard of similar tries with a salt mixture, or flour, a crust of some kind....
Kind of like a terra cotta baking vessel...

 

[Zonoma]

Mud is a time-honored tradition for camping when baking potatoes (or other tubers) or roasting game and fish. If you are worried about bacteria, bake the mud in a high heat oven for an hour or two before using it in the house. I think I'd get all the entrails out first, though. You do when you roast game and fish. Skins on, entrails out, coat in mud and then into the coals.

 

[JerBear]

Not mudd really, but clay......ancient tribes would pack fowl in wet earth/clay and put in a pit of coals and then cover with coals. I do believe they left the fowl whole, but I'm sure a few gutted them.

Jerry....history buff!