Baking sweet potato and chicken, the beggars' way by Kon-Yau (烘燎)

Once upon a time, there was a beggar who was hungry. He went to the village to beg. But the life was already very tough in the village. No one in the village gave the beggar food to eat. In order not to die because of hunger, he stole chicken and sweet potato from the farm. He hid the food in the hole far away from the sight of the village. He built a temporary pot (烘燎) using clay bricks, bamboo shoots, wood, and paper. He lit a fire in the pot and make sure the pot was very hot. He coated the chicken with clays, and put the chickens and sweet potato's into the hole, collapsed the pot, and covered the hole with hot clay bricks and dirt. After few hours, the beggar dig out the sweet potato and the chicken. The sweet potato had special flavor; the chicken, not only cooked with a special flavor, its skin was also removed from the hot clay coating. This special baking method was then invented.

Today, there are few luxurious cooking places which use this method to prepare food for their customers. At Toucheng farm, Meeilei, Jau-Fu and I also built the pot and lit the fire in the pot. We had good times.