White Cut Chicken
Poached chicken cooled, chopped bone-in and served with a savoury dipping sauce.
How to eat it
The chicken is chopped through the bone, so eat carefully and expect small fragments around the joints. If ginger-scallion or soy dipping sauce is served, touch each piece lightly to it rather than soaking the chicken.
The story behind the dish
The pale skin comes from gentle poaching rather than roasting or braising in dark sauce. “White-cut” describes both the light colour and the way the cooked bird is chopped for serving. Shanghai restaurants developed their own versions within a wider southern Chinese poached-chicken tradition, often emphasizing tender meat and a clean broth-based cooking method.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.