傳說與滋味：追尋臺灣「三杯雞」菜餚之演變

Legend and Taste:In Search of the Evolution of 'Three-Cup Chicken' in Modern Taiwan

本文討論「三杯雞」在臺灣的變遷過程。1956年食譜中首次出現「三杯雞」，爾後報紙提及該菜餚來自江西。為了求證其來源，本文首先考察江西地方志、明清與民國食譜，發現無「三杯雞」名稱，但有類似的烹飪方式（醬油、酒與油等）。民國時期上海的「信豐雞類」（信豐位於江西贛州）菜餚與三杯雞類似，透過外省族群的書寫與流傳，可能成為臺灣戰後「三杯雞來自江西」說法的起源。另一方面，臺籍資深廚師與餐館業者認為「三杯雞」來自傳統臺灣鄉間，出現脈絡是「節儉說」（延長食用期限）與「麻油雞改良說」（降低酒精成分），農家以醬油、米酒與麻油與烹飪雞肉。1970年代以降「土雞城」將此菜餚普及化並推展到臺灣各地。簡言之，本文考察「三杯雞」的發展脈絡，論證戰後臺灣「三杯雞」出現兩個脈絡，第一個是「外省族群」筆下的「三杯雞」，他們透過話語權將此菜餚記錄下來，稱之來自江西，戰後初期佐料並無「麻油」與「九層塔」。第二個脈絡是「臺籍廚師與餐館業者」的「三杯雞」，不同廚師針對該菜餚的出現背景、烹飪佐料與演變形式提出看法，出現甚多雷同性，反映出今日所見的三杯雞菜餚特色。

This paper discusses the evolution of the dish 'Three-Cup Chicken' in Taiwan. The earliest recipe of three-cup chicken appeared in 1956. Shortly afterwards, newspapers suggested it was a dish from Jiangxi Province. To explore the origin and evolution of this dish, this paper first examines Jiangxi local gazetteers and cookbooks from both Ming-Qing and Republican eras. While there are no records of the term 'Three-Cup Chicken' in these sources, there were many dishes that were similar to Three-Cup Chicken. For example, in the Republican era, a chicken dish called 'Xinfeng Chicken' (Xinfeng is a place in the southern part of Jiangxi Province), was similar to three cup chicken. After World War Two, this dish was passed on by Chinese mainlander writers, and the saying that 'Three-Cup Chicken originated from Jiangxi' emerged. On the other hand, native Taiwanese local senior chefs and restaurant owners believe that Three-Cup Chicken originated in Taiwan. They believe that this dish was developed to serve two purposes: 1) to reduce the amount of rice wine for women to eat after childbirth| and 2) to increase the length of the period during which it would remain edible, which derives from the concept of frugality. In addition, Taiwanese farmers cooked Three-Cup Chicken using sesame oil, rice wine, and soy, and after 1970s, this combination of seasoning for this dish was promoted as 'native chicken village'. In short, this paper argues that there are two explanations of the emergence of Three-Cup Chicken in Taiwan. The first one is that it was developed by Chinese mainlanders, who did not incorporate the ingredients of sesame oil and basil until the 1970s| while the second one is that it emerged from local senior Taiwanese chefs and restaurant owners who provided the context, the motivation for changes to the dish, and the eventual cooking methods of Three-Cup Chicken. All these factors reasonably explain the character of dish at present.