Unlike roast chicken made from tender roosters, Spicy Chicken requires laying hens that are around a year old.
Though this type of chicken meat might seem dry and tough, and theoretically unsuited for this preparation method, the clever people of the Northwest have found a way to make it delightfully crunchy and firm, with a refreshingly numb and spicy flavor.
Regular tender chicken, on the other hand, could not produce this texture.
Early this morning, when Lao Huang delivered vegetables, he also specifically brought a few spent hens. Che Zai then weighed them, chopped off the toenails from the chicken feet, removed the trachea and lymph tissue from the chicken necks, meticulously cleaned the downy feathers from their bodies, and also cleared out inedible parts like the lungs from their abdominal cavities.
