Bobo Chicken Skewers

The bowl gives the dish its name and method

“Bobo” refers to the earthenware bowl that holds a deep seasoned liquid. Ingredients are cooked separately, cooled, cut, skewered, and left in the bowl to absorb flavour. Chicken gave the dish its name, while current displays commonly include skin, gizzard, beef, lotus root, potato, kelp, mushrooms, and tofu products.

Skewers remain immersed until selected, allowing the cool ingredients to take on chilli, sesame, spice, and savoury stock.

The method began in Leshan and became part of Chengdu's everyday snack scene. Separating cooking from soaking preserves each texture: tender chicken, resilient skin, crisp gizzard and lotus root, or floury potato.

Red oil and green Sichuan pepper create different sensory paths

Red-oil dressing combines aromatic chilli oil, sesame, stock, and spices for a rounded red heat. Green-pepper or rattan-pepper dressing is paler and more citrusy, with a brighter numbing sensation. Shops may let diners choose one bowl or divide selections between the two.

Skewers are usually self-selected and billed by stick, colour, plate, or weight. Labels and cut surfaces help distinguish meat, offal, and vegetables. It is served cool or at room temperature, making it distinct from chuanchuan cooked in a bubbling table pot.

Flavour and ingredient note

Dressings can be strongly spicy or numbing. Displays may include chicken skin and gizzard as well as other offal; identify each skewer by its label.