The roast chicken produced in Fuli Town in the north of Suzhou City is a local speciality that is famous not only in Anhui, but also across the whole of China. The recipe has over 70 years of history behind it, and this has produced a very unique flavour.

The cooking process of this roast chicken dish is very elaborate. Firstly, choose a fat, tender chicken. Secondly, clean and pin the chicken and then dry it. After that, pour malt sugar water on it and fry it in sesame seed oil. The chicken is then put into a special soup, which has been preserved and continuously used for over 60 years, and contains 13 luxurious spices, including camellia, angelica, gypsum, cardamom, cloves and magnolia, to name but a few. When it is stewed at a high temperature in this thick gravy, the chicken becomes very crispy. After being stewed like this for four to six hours, it can then be taken out of the soup and it is ready to eat. Thanks to this procedure, the roast chicken is delectable both in colour and taste. It is fatty but not greasy. If you pick up the chicken’s leg and shake it lightly when it is hot, the meat will drop off the bone completely.