A dense, flat Guangzhou biscuit, deep brown and chewy-crisp, with a complex sweet-and-savory taste built on sugar-cured pork fat, fermented bean curd, peppercorn salt and assorted seeds and nuts. Despite the name it contains no chicken — it is a traditional Cantonese pastry, baked hard and keeping well, sold as a teahouse and gift sweet. Its hallmark is that it tastes salty, sweet and savory all at once. Eaten as a snack with tea.
The chicken biscuit is a famous old pastry of Guangzhou, traditionally credited to the Shing Chu Lau (Chengzhulou) tea house in the city's Henan district, which is said to have made its forerunner, the 'little phoenix cake' (siu fung beng), in the late Qing. The 'chicken' in the name carries no meat: it is most often explained either by the biscuit's small, rough, browned shape resembling a baby chick, or by a tale that it was named after a kitchen servant girl, Ah Fung, called 'little phoenix' — the two stories are the traditional accounts and the exact truth is hard to pin down. What is certain is its makeup: a filling of bing yuk (sugar-cured pork fat), fermented bean curd, peppercorn and seeds, encased in a thin dough and baked hard, prized as both a teahouse snack and a portable gift.
A small, flat, deep-brown biscuit, hard and dense to the hand, that turns chewy then crisp as you bite. The flavor is the draw — layered and almost confusing at first: sweet from the sugar and the candied pork fat, salty and aromatic from peppercorn and fermented bean curd, savory and nutty from sesame and melon seeds, with a faint funk of nam yu underneath. The candied fat melts to a translucent richness rather than reading as meat. It keeps for weeks and only deepens; a little goes a long way against a cup of strong tea.
The biscuit's character rests on bing yuk — pork back-fat diced and cured in sugar and a little spirit, which draws out water and firms the fat so that, when baked, it turns clear and unctuous instead of greasy or meaty. The filling binds this candied fat with fermented bean curd (nam yu), peppercorn salt, sugar, and a mix of toasted sesame and melon seeds into a dense, sticky savory-sweet paste; the contrast of sweet and salty is the whole identity of the cake. A thin wheat dough, worked with sugar syrup and a little fat and alkaline water for color and a short, tender crumb, is wrapped around the filling, pressed flat, brushed with egg, and baked hard at around 180°C until deep brown. Because it is baked dry and dense and the fat is cured, it stores for a long time without spoiling.
Variations
Recipes range from very sweet to markedly savory and peppery depending on the balance of sugar, peppercorn and fermented bean curd; some lean hard into the nam yu funk, others into the seeds and nuts. The proportion of candied pork fat sets how rich and translucent the inside eats. Modern and lighter versions cut the fat or use less sugar, and gift-box editions are made smaller and neater than the rough teahouse original. It should not be confused with the wife cake, a flaky pastry with a winter-melon-paste filling — the chicken biscuit is dense, hard and savory-sweet, not flaky.
On the Palate
Where Chicken Biscuit sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
6 steps · 45 min active + 45 min waiting
- 130 min
Dice pork back-fat small, toss with sugar and a splash of spirit, and cure until the fat turns firm and translucent.
Watch outCure the diced back-fat in sugar and spirit until it turns firm and translucent — that's the whole point of the biscuit; the sugar draws out water so it bakes clear and unctuous, not greasy.
- 215 min
Mash fermented bean curd with sugar, peppercorn salt, and a little water; mix in the cured fat and toasted sesame and melon seeds to a thick paste, then bind with a little flour.
- 315 min
Make a thin dough from flour, sugar syrup, a little oil, and alkaline water; rest it.
- 410 min
Divide dough and filling, wrap each portion of filling in dough, and press flat into rounds.
- 55 min
Brush the tops with beaten egg and arrange on a lined tray.
- 620 min
Bake at 180°C until deep brown and firm, about 18-20 minutes; cool completely, then store sealed.
Watch outBake at 180 degrees until deep brown and firm — the candied fat should have gone glassy inside; cool completely before sealing or trapped steam softens the crust.
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