A brisk Sichuan cold dish of chicken offal — gizzard, liver, heart and intestine — blanched just to doneness, then tossed cold with pickled chili, celery and a red-oil dressing. The gizzard and heart stay crisp and springy, the liver soft and powdery, all cut small and bright with the sour heat of pickled chili. It is a fast, thrifty cold plate from the Sichuan habit of wasting no part of the bird, eaten cool as drinking food.
Chicken offal cold plates belong to Sichuan's broad cold-dish and pickled-chili (泡椒) tradition, where the gizzard, heart, liver and intestine left after a bird is cooked are blanched and dressed rather than discarded — a thrift-minded habit shared across home kitchens and small restaurants. The pickled-chili dressing is drawn from the province's deep pao-cai (pickling) culture: house-fermented chilies and their brine give a sour-spicy lift distinct from the dried-chili red oil of other cold dishes. No founding cook or date is recorded; it is documented as everyday home and tavern fare, one of many "za" (offal) plates — chicken, duck and rabbit giblets are all treated this way.
Everything is cut small and eaten cold. The gizzard and heart are the texture — crisp, springy, snapping clean under the tooth when blanched right; the liver is soft and faintly powdery against them, the intestine chewy. The pickled chili leads with a sour, bright heat rather than the deep toasted burn of dried chili, and the celery adds a green crunch and herbal edge. Red oil rounds it, garlic sharpens it, a little Sichuan peppercorn tingles underneath. The dish is light, sour-spicy and refreshing, not heavy or oily.
The whole dish turns on the blanch. Gizzard and heart are dense muscle that stays crisp only if dropped into fully boiling water and cooked just to doneness — under a minute for thin-cut gizzard — then pulled and shocked in cold water; left too long they turn rubbery and hard. Liver is the opposite: it overcooks and goes grainy in seconds, so it is blanched separately and briefly, just until no longer pink. Cleaning matters as much as cooking — gizzard is split and the tough inner lining peeled, intestine is rubbed with salt and starch and rinsed repeatedly to strip the funk, and a blanch with ginger and wine drives off the last gaminess. The dressing is built cold: pickled chili and a little of its sour brine, red chili oil, mashed garlic, soy, a pinch of sugar and ground Sichuan peppercorn, with celery tossed in raw for crunch; everything is combined only once the offal is cool so it stays crisp and the aromatics stay sharp.
Variations
The mix of offal is flexible — some plates are all gizzard for maximum crunch, others add duck gizzard, blanched chicken skin or kidney. The dressing splits between this sour pickled-chili style and a straight red-oil or hot-and-sour (酸辣) style with vinegar; a hotter version leans on fresh bird's-eye and pickled wild chili (泡野山椒). Celery is the usual fresh element, but coriander, scallion, onion or sour mustard greens are all used. A closely related hot dish, 泡椒鸡杂, stir-fries the same offal with pickled chili over high heat instead of serving it cold — this plate is the cold, tossed version.
On the Palate
Where Cold Chicken Giblets sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 30 min active + 10 min waiting
- 115 min
Clean the offal: split gizzards and peel the tough inner lining, rub intestines with salt and starch and rinse until clean, trim hearts; slice gizzards and hearts thin.
- 25 min
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil with ginger and a splash of wine; blanch gizzard, heart and intestine just to doneness, under a minute, then shock in cold water.
Watch outDrop the gizzard, heart and intestine into a rolling boil and pull them under a minute, then shock cold — a moment too long and they turn rubbery.
- 33 min
Blanch the liver separately and briefly, just until no longer pink, and shock; drain everything well.
Watch outBlanch the liver on its own, just until no longer pink — it overcooks to grainy in seconds, so watch it apart from the rest.
- 45 min
Cut celery into short batons; mince garlic; chop pickled chili.
- 54 min
Mix the dressing: pickled chili with a little of its brine, red chili oil, soy, mashed garlic, a pinch of sugar and ground Sichuan peppercorn.
- 63 min
Toss the cooled offal and celery with the dressing, finish with cilantro and a little sesame oil, and serve cold.
