Explosive Chicken Taiwan Cuisine Restaurant Introduction
This is a specialty store in Huatan Township that originally operated as a herbal shop. After the second generation took over, they creatively repurposed the traditional earth oven used for roasting herbs to make "Earthen Oven Chicken." The nearby vegetable garden grows many herbs, which are used in the dish, such as pearl grass, savory grass, and Ganoderma lucidum. The "Earth Oven Chicken" at the shop, known as "Exploding Chicken," gets its name from the explosive sound created when the antibacterial paper wrapped around the chicken bursts due to the heat during the cooking process. The Exploding Chicken features specially selected black-boned native chickens stuffed with Chinese herbs, rice wine, and other ingredients, wrapped in 11 layers including heat-resistant plastic, aluminum foil, newspaper, red clay, and iron mesh. It is then placed in a crucifix earth oven and slow-cooked with acacia wood and longan wood for four hours. Unlike typical earth oven chicken, which usually has less broth, the Exploding Chicken is tender and flavorful, with a rich, aromatic broth that blends the essence of various herbs, rice wine, and the chicken's own broth.
