Crispy fried chicken

Crispy fried chicken is a standard dish in the Cantonese cuisine of southern China and Hong Kong. The chicken is fried in such a way that the skin is extremely crunchy, but the white meat is relatively soft. This is done by first poaching the chicken in water with spices, drying it, coating with a syrup of vinegar and sugar, letting it dry thoroughly and deep frying.

The dish often served with two side dishes, a pepper salt (椒鹽) and prawn crackers (蝦片). The pepper salt, colored dark white to gray, is dry-fried separately in a wok. It is made of salt and Sichuan pepper.

Traditionally this dish is eaten at night. It is also one of the traditional chicken dishes served at Chinese weddings and other Asian weddings.