Explosive Chicken Taiwanese Cuisine Restaurant Introduction
This is a signature restaurant in Hualien Township, which was previously operated as an herbal shop. After being taken over by the second generation, they creatively repurposed the traditional earthen oven used for roasting herbs to make earthen oven chicken. The garden nearby grows a variety of herbs, which are incorporated into the earthen oven chicken, such as pearl grass, savory, and cordyceps. The earthen oven chicken here is known as "explosion chicken" because it creates a popping sound as the antibacterial paper wrapped around it bursts due to the heat during cooking. The explosion chicken features selected black-boned native chicken stuffed with herbal ingredients and rice wine, wrapped in 11 layers including heat-resistant plastic bags, aluminum foil, newspaper, red clay, and iron mesh. It is then cooked in a cross-shaped earthen oven using acacia wood and longan wood for 4 hours until completion. Unlike typical earthen oven chicken, which tends to have less broth, the explosion chicken is tender and flavorful, with a rich broth that blends the essence of various herbs, rice wine, and the natural chicken broth from the black-boned chicken, resulting in a thick and aromatic flavor.
