Knowledge Memo | [Saliva Chicken] | The Violence of Naming and Our Inability to Resist It!

"Saliva Chicken" (Yodare-dori).
These words have somehow become a standard fixture on menus before we even realized it.
Just think about it. "Saliva." Seriously.
It is normally unthinkable to name a dish after a physiological phenomenon, especially one considered to be poor manners.
However, for this dish alone, everyone agrees that the naming is 100% correct.

In this article, I would like to talk about the appeal of this exquisite Chinese dish, "Saliva Chicken," and why we fall for it so easily.

The origin is not a vulgar story, but the nostalgia of a literary master.

This dish is written as "Koushuiji" in Chinese.
"Koushui" means "saliva" in Chinese, and it was translated directly into Japanese as "Yodare-dori" (Saliva Chicken).
The person who named it is said to be Guo Moruo (1892–1978), a literary figure known as a pioneer of modern Chinese literature and history.

In his writings, Guo Moruo looked back on his memories of eating Baiqieji (boiled chicken) in his hometown of Leshan, Sichuan Province, during his youth, and wrote that just thinking about the pure white boiled chicken and the bright red chili oil poured over it made his mouth water.
The accepted theory is that this passage of homesickness evolved into the name "Koushuiji," carrying the meaning of "a chicken dish so delicious it makes your mouth water."

In other words, the "saliva" in "Saliva Chicken" was a literary metaphor expressing homesickness and a craving for gourmet food.
In China, another theory is that it was named because your mouth actually waters when you eat it with a sauce that has a tangy and spicy kick, and in any case, the part about it being "so delicious it makes your mouth water" is common to both.

The sauce for Saliva Chicken is characterized by having both the "la" (spicy) of chili peppers and the "ma" (numbing) of Sichuan peppercorns, and the addition of the acidity of soy sauce and vinegar creates a complex flavor.
If this dish had a descriptive name like "Special Spicy Sichuan-Style Boiled Chicken with Fragrant Sauce," would it have pierced our hearts (and stomachs) this deeply?
The audacity of using the ultimate subjective experience—"so delicious it makes your mouth water"—as the name of the dish.
And we, who are completely taken in by it and press the order button...

The decisive difference from its eternal rival, "Bang Bang Chicken"

Here, let's also touch upon Bang Bang Chicken, the representative of "cold boiled chicken dishes" that occupies a similar position.
These two look like relatives, but the direction they are aiming for is the exact opposite.

• Bang Bang Chicken is "peace and healing"
  Its name comes from the fact that the tough chicken meat was beaten with a stick to make it tender.
  In Japan, it is common to serve it with cucumber and tomato and pour a sweet, spicy, and rich "sesame sauce" over it.
  The spiciness is mild, and it is a dish that can be safely eaten by everyone from children to the elderly—a "kind and inclusive childhood friend," so to speak.

• Saliva Chicken is "stimulation and temptation"
  On the other hand, Saliva Chicken, as mentioned earlier, uses a "black vinegar-based savory spicy sauce" with chili oil and Sichuan peppercorns.
  With its punchy impact and numbing sensation, it forcefully demands white rice or beer.
  This could be called a "mysterious partner that you are drawn to even though you know it's dangerous."

Do you want to feel gentle today, or do you want to drown in stimulation?
Depending on your mental state that day, you decide which one to choose.

Arrived in Japan in 1995, starting from Akasaka

It is said that Saliva Chicken was first introduced in Japan at the Chinese restaurant "Chenka Shisai," which opened in Akasaka in 1995.
At the time, when it came to Chinese cuisine using steamed chicken, Bang Bang Chicken was the mainstream, and it seems that this restaurant put effort into introducing authentic Sichuan Saliva Chicken to Japan.
While the unique name and the aroma of chili oil initially only attracted attention due to their novelty, as a result of repeated adjustments to suit the Japanese palate while respecting traditional recipes, it gradually permeated among foodies over more than a quarter of a century.

And it is said that its popularity rose significantly around 2020.
This period coincides with the time when Sichuan gourmet food in general, such as Tantanmen and Malatang, which involve a numbing "mala" sensation, gained citizenship in Japan. At a time when tolerance for the unknown stimulation of Sichuan peppercorn numbness was gradually growing in the Japanese dining scene, Saliva Chicken slid in as its representative player.

The "triple vote" that conquered the convenience store shelves

And now. Saliva Chicken has jumped out of the town Chinese restaurant dish, and has become a presence that appears everywhere, from chilled side dishes at convenience stores and salad chicken arrangement recipes to "convenience store add-on" projects on television.
Even on variety shows, "add-on Saliva Chicken" using convenience store ingredients is introduced as a dish that rivals those of professional chefs.

Behind this standardization, it seems that three demands that go beyond mere "buzz" are overlapping.

The first is "protein demand."
Amidst the rise in carbohydrate restriction and diet consciousness, Saliva Chicken based on chicken breast is often introduced as a high-protein, low-carbohydrate menu item.
In a recipe from a beauty media outlet, they highlight the value of 23.9g of protein against only 5g of carbohydrates as a strength.

The second is "time-saving and evening drink demand."
The ease of completing a dish just by combining convenience store salad chicken with "Saliva Chicken sauce."
If you also buy tofu and combine it, the first demand is further increased!

The third is 'habituation to stimulation'.
The numbness of Sichuan pepper and the acidity of black vinegar were still foreign sensations on Japanese dining tables ten years ago, but after the Mala boom, they have now been readily accepted as a 'delicious flavor that you get hooked on'.

It has landed on convenience store shelves in the Reiwa era as a dish that simultaneously satisfies the desires for protein, dieting, and an evening drink.

If you want to recreate it at home, the things to master are the 'boiling method' and the 'five flavors of the sauce'.

Setting aside its origins and history, for those who actually want to try making it at home, I will touch upon the key points for recreating it as a home-cooked meal.

There are two main tips.

One is how to boil the chicken.
While whole chicken is used in authentic versions, you can easily recreate it at home using chicken breast or chicken thigh.
The point is to cook it slowly with residual heat without letting it boil.
Boiling it all at once over high heat causes it to become dry, but if you turn off the heat and finish it with residual heat, it will approach a moist texture.
In reviews on recipe sites, you can see many voices of surprise saying, 'I can't believe chicken breast can turn out this moist' using this method.

The other is the sauce blend.
Essential to understanding Saliva Chicken is the philosophy of seasoning in Chinese cuisine known as 'Wu Wei' (five flavors).
It is a concept that roughly corresponds to the Japanese five flavors (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy), and it is considered good to mix the elements of Tian (sweet), Xian (salty), Suan (sour), La (spicy), and Ku (bitter) in a balanced way to finish a dish.
Have the mindset of recreating this balance of five flavors with household seasonings.
By using soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, chili oil, and sesame oil as a base, and just adding grated garlic, ginger, and Sichuan pepper if you have it, you will get very close to the taste of a specialty restaurant.
Since there are plenty of commercially available sauces specifically for Saliva Chicken and convenience store seasonings on the market, if you find it troublesome to think about the blend from scratch, using those ready-made products as a foundation and fine-tuning them to your liking will also be an easy entry point.

◆ Summary

It is not just Pavlov's dogs that reflexively salivate when they see the words 'Saliva Chicken'.
While writing this article, my own mouth is already a great flood.
You can rush to a nearby Chinese restaurant, or you can buy chicken breast at the supermarket and try making it yourself.
Why not happily surrender to the violence of such an intense name tonight?

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Next time, I'm writing a little about '100-yen shops', so please read it if you have the time.

I write various things from my daily life as a substitute for a diary.
Please read my previous article as well if you have time.