What it is
Chiayi turkey rice (嘉義火雞肉飯) is a small bowl of white rice covered with turkey meat, moistened with a soy-based sauce and rendered fat and usually finished with crisp fried shallots. It is the defining dish of Chiayi, where many shop signs simply say chicken rice (雞肉飯). A TVBS food guide counts more than 120 shops in Chiayi City alone.
Where it came from
The usual story starts with chicken. A book published by the Chiayi City Government credits Lin Tian-shou (林添壽), a veteran cook at the city's First Market (第一商場), with laying shredded chicken from religious offerings over rice and adding braising sauce. It sold well and is treated as the start of Chiayi chicken rice. Lin Chao-cheng (林昭正), whose family shop dates from 1943, tells a similar tale of leftover offering chicken dressed with braised pork sauce.
Turkey came into the picture after the Second World War. American forces stationed in Taiwan brought the birds, and farmers in Chiayi City and Shuishang Township (水上) began raising them. A turkey is far bigger than a chicken and gave more meat for the money, so vendors switched. In the lean post-war years the bowl became a cheap, filling meal for working people. NPR notes that the Dutch first brought turkeys to Taiwan in the 17th century, though they only caught on in the 20th century as living standards rose.
How it is made
Turkeys are boiled or steamed, not roasted. Liu Zhongyuan of Liu Li Zhang (劉里長) told NPR that turkey should never be baked, and he uses only male birds. The cooked meat is cut with a knife into strips (肉絲) or slices (肉片) rather than torn, which keeps it moist. Careful shops add some breast, thigh and neck meat to each bowl. The sauce comes from the turkey's cooking juices with soy, and the rice is slicked with poultry fat or lard and topped with shallots fried in lard.
How to eat it
Turkey rice works as breakfast, lunch, dinner or a late-night meal. Order strips (火雞肉飯) or slices (火雞肉片飯). Yellow pickled radish or other pickles usually come on top or alongside. Common extras are a soft-cooked egg, glutinous rice sausage (糯米腸), three-colour egg terrine (三色蛋) and miso or offal soup.
Around Taiwan
- South
- Chiayi City is the dish's home. Penshui (噴水雞肉飯), whose main shop stands by the fountain roundabout, has traded for more than 70 years and runs several branches. Liu Li Zhang (劉里長) draws long queues at mealtimes, and A Xi (阿溪), a breakfast favourite, often sells out in the morning.
