Pink chicken sashimi puts extreme temperature control to the test, fully showcasing the artisan spirit behind the free-range chicken

Stepping into Yuan Di Ji Shao, which calls itself a "chicken specialty restaurant", calligraphy and paintings hang on the walls, and the chefs are intently working on chicken wings, chicken skin and chicken tenderloin. The chef swiftly makes three cuts, and in eight or nine seconds the silvery-white membrane in the chicken tenderloin has been removed, and this tenderloin is exactly what will become the "chicken sashimi" on the menu.

"Chicken sashimi" is extremely rare in Taiwan. The chicken skin, only briefly scalded with hot water, shows a faint white, while most of the meat still retains the pink hue of raw chicken. "This is not for sterilization, but to draw out the aroma of the chicken," says Tang Zhonghong, head chef of Yuan Di Ji Shao. His willingness to attempt "chicken sashimi" comes entirely from absolute confidence in the sourcing and preservation techniques of the ingredients.

"From childhood, we are always used to chicken having to be fully cooked, otherwise it may have a gamey smell or be unsafe; but in Japan, I saw that their chicken tenderloin can be slightly pink at six or seven-tenths cooked, and in Kanto there is even a habit of 'eating raw chicken.'" This greatly stimulated Tang Zhonghong's understanding of "chicken" -- it turns out that when chicken undergoes proper refrigerated transport and cutting, its appeal is extraordinary.