Why is Xinjiang chicken so expensive?

If one food could sum up the characteristics of Xinjiang, it would be the chicken. "Big" describes the vast area; gathering a plate refers to the unrestrained folk customs; "chicken" as the only protagonist reflects the tongue tension of the Northwest's preference for meat. In fact, Big Plate Chicken is indeed worthy of being the leader of Xinjiang cuisine. The chicken is smooth and spicy, the potatoes are soft and sweet, and the side dishes are rich in color. Then there is the chewy noodles, which will bring all the yearning for Xinjiang to life in the bowl. However, the price of large-plate chicken often makes people confused. To outsiders, isn’t it just a larger portion of fried chicken nuggets? The price tag is often seventy, eighty or even hundreds, why? People in Xinjiang say: It’s worth it.

No: 1一

The history of large plate chicken is not very long, it is roughly a "new dish" that became popular in the 1980s. There are mainly several versions of legends about its origin, including Shawan County, which is more than 100 kilometers west of Urumqi, Chaiwobao Township, which is dozens of kilometers east of Urumqi, and a few people think it is Qitai County in Changji Prefecture. The regional characteristics of these places are obvious. They are all located on Tianshan North Road, south of the Gurbantong Desert, and in a long and narrow urban belt with Urumqi as the core. To the west, along Tianshang North Road, you can reach Kazakh inhabited areas such as Yili and Tacheng; to the east, it is close to Turpan, Hami, Barkol and other important places in the interior leading to Xinjiang. Since the mid-Qing Dynasty, Xinjiang has developed the fastest, has the most frequent integration and collision with the mainland, and is a region where multiple ethnic groups live harmoniously.

To a certain extent, the Tianshan North Road urban belt is an extension of the Hexi Corridor and an important strategic location for the Belt and Road Initiative. The Da Pan Chicken born here naturally bears the shadow of the cultural communication and integration of the mainland.

No: 22

Potatoes were first introduced from Russia by Shanxi merchants in the late Ming Dynasty. Its first stop in China was Xinjiang, but this drought-tolerant, high-cold-tolerant, extremely high-yielding crop has been most widely planted in the Hexi Corridor, which has narrow farmland and densely populated areas. To this day, potatoes, known as potatoes in Gansu, still maintain a unique style of eating them by steaming, grilling, cold, stewing and stir-frying: five-spice potatoes, honey-glazed potatoes, braised potatoes, shredded potatoes, roasted beef with potato, potato tendons... Potatoes, which are not available on the table elsewhere, are made into a banquet dish by Gansu people, which also gives potatoes a reputation as a "provincial dish" in Gansu. As a famous dish in Xinjiang, the potatoes in the large-plate chicken are undoubtedly gifts brought by the large number of immigrants from Gansu.

Red pepper and Sichuan peppercorns are essential seasonings in Sichuan cuisine. The former was introduced from the southeastern coast and is used as a substitute for salt in inland areas such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing; the latter is a traditional condiment in Sichuan and can provide a pungent aroma. Together, during the frequent exchanges between the mainland and Xinjiang in recent decades, they were introduced in large quantities to Xinjiang cuisine, and eventually formed the basis of the seasoning of large plate chicken. The chili pepper itself also received a new name in Xinjiang: "Spicy Pizi".

As the protagonist, the chicken has more obvious characteristics of cultural integration. For thousands of years, there have been natural differences between Eastern and Western farming peoples and nomadic peoples in eating meat: pigs and dogs are of no value to agricultural production, but as omnivores they can consume the remaining materials of farming, while cattle are farming tools, so Eastern civilization They tend to eat pork and dog meat, and regard beef as a means of production; for nomadic people, cattle and sheep are private property and food sources that follow migration, pigs cannot follow, and dogs are tools to assist in grazing and are "friends of mankind" ".

Only chickens, as domestic animals that can not only consume excess food but also accompany human migrations, have reached a certain degree of reconciliation on the dining tables of the East and the West. Therefore, chicken has become the protagonist of Xinjiang’s first dish, chicken. This is not an accident, but an inevitable result of Xinjiang’s unique geographical location at the forefront of exchanges between the East and the West.

No: 33

The preparation of large plate chicken is very simple. Add seasonings to the chicken pieces and stir-fry in oil, add potatoes and green peppers and add water to simmer until the juice is reduced. Similar to Northeastern stews, Shandong mixed dishes, and even the popular "American Chinese food" Li Hongzhang chowder, it also has many similarities.

In fact, they have the same ancestor: Central Plains stew. Before the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Guanzhong Plain was the core area of ??China and the birthplace of civilization. The "soup" eaten by Emperor Zhou may be the prototype of the stew. The rich products here, as well as the long-established stewing skills, gave birth to braised vegetables, a food that combines cabbage, meat, vermicelli, tofu, beans and other ingredients to simmer and collect the juice to enhance the taste.

With the spread of Eastern culture to the west and the communication between Xinjiang and the mainland, the cooking of stews has finally become the key to brightening up the chicken dish along with potatoes from Gansu, spices from Sichuan, and chicken from Xinjiang. The last key.

No:44

There is a huge difference between Xinjiang’s local chicken and chicken from other places. The Shaanxi pulled noodles, which are as wide as a belt, are often soaked directly in the chicken soup from other places and sold as part of the chicken. But in Xinjiang, kind-hearted shops will serve bowls of smooth and chewy noodles on a per-person basis. Xinjiang people call this kind of noodles "La Tiaozi". The most authentic La Tiaozi must use winter wheat grown in Northern Xinjiang, especially in Changji Prefecture. The extremely high protein content in the flour makes the noodles elastic and chewy, so it is nothing like Xinjiang's large plate chicken noodles. taste.

Everyone scooped up a large plate of chicken meat, potatoes and rich soup, mixed it with noodles, and ate it with raw garlic cloves. It was steaming hot and filled with the aroma of meat.

Generally speaking, there is no charge for adding noodles to a plate. So in essence, its positioning is not just a meat dish in a meal. A large plate of chicken already constitutes a meal in itself, and it is not a single portion. In fact, an authentic Xinjiang large-plate chicken means a whole free-range Shawan three-yellow chicken, about a pound of Boltongu potato cubes, Anji sea spicy skin, onion segments and green peppers that are enough to make the whole chicken delicious, and various kinds of Spices and unlimited amounts of slivers. These things are enough for three or five people. In addition, it is a fusion of many food traditions from the mainland. In the minds of Xinjiang people, the large plate chicken is indeed regarded as a delicacy that is popular in the world. Seventy, eighty, or even a hundred copies are really not expensive in the eyes of locals.

Essentially speaking, the way of eating large plate of chicken is a unique way of taking into consideration both sharing and sharing meals. The large portions of the main dishes maintain the lively atmosphere of sitting around the table, with each person mixing and eating noodles, which also runs through the Western tradition of eating for one person. Similarly, there are oily pork noodles, spicy skin-rolled pork noodles, egg noodles, etc. They are rituals created by Xinjiang's unique geographical environment.

-END-

When you come to Xinjiang, you don’t have to go to the mountains, famous lakes, grasslands, or deserts, but you can’t miss the big plate with strips of rice noodles. chicken. When you walk through the crowded crowd and find an empty seat to sit down, you can see whether they are Uyghurs, Hui, Kazakhs, Hans, or Tajiks, whether they are southern Han Chinese carrying Trump, or carrying Shaanxi-Gansu soil The northern men all gathered together because of the same taste, sitting side by side, enjoying this simple but rich food together. This is the taste of Xinjiang.

Written by: Wei Shuihua

Header picture: Uncle Lanzhou

Some pictures come from the Internet Information Office of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

“Xinjiang is a good place "Local Talents Journey to the West" online theme communication activity