When it comes to autumn food, I feel that all I see is a word - duck. Once you check the folklore, even today's Mid-Yuan Festival must eat duck.
Beijing roast duck, Nanjing saltwater duck, Sichuan camphor tea duck, Fujian ginger duck, Jiangxi lotus blood duck, Shanghai Babao duck... Almost every place in China has its own set of unique skills for eating duck.
Peking duck
But why on earth do you eat duck in the fall? From the perspective of Chinese medicine, the biggest feature of duck meat is that it is not tepid, clear heat to fire, and is most suitable for autumn dryness.
In Han folklore, the duck in the Middle Yuan Festival has to carry the ancestral soul across the river, so it is necessary to "send" the duck to complete the mission. Another theory is to take the harmonic sound of "pressure", so that ghosts can be suppressed.
Hemp duck
In addition, the Mid-Autumn Festival eating duck is said to originate from the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the Han people agreed to rebel in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because the Mongols are called "Tartars", they also take their harmonic pronunciation "duck", and the agreed code is "eat duck". Now all ethnic groups have long been united and fraternal, but eating duck has been passed down as a custom.
But counting, liqiu food customs also eat duck, summer also eat duck, Yunnan Mulam people also have mid-autumn eat duck food customs, can not help but make people suspect that the autumn duck is too fat, the ancients to find a variety of reasons to eat duck all the time, right?
Don't blame the ancients, Chinese ducks are too fat. The most famous chinese duck species in the world is the "Peking Duck", a pure white fat duck with a history of more than 400 years and was once a duck dedicated to the imperial court.
Peking Duck
Improved by hybridization of British and local duck species, "Cherry Valley Duck" accounts for 70% of the global meat duck market. In 2017, a Chinese company acquired a 100% stake in Cherry Valley, and since then China has been able to collect patent fees from the world by relying on Beijing Duck (Cherry Valley Duck is the Chinese name, and the two types of ducks in foreign countries are uniformly called Beijing Duck).
The representative dish of Peking duck is naturally Peking duck. Peking roast duck is crispy and tender, fat but not greasy, thin but not chai. No wonder Qianlong had eaten eight times in thirteen days.
But interestingly, Peking duck did not originate in Beijing. The earliest roast duck shop in Beijing was a cheap shop, and the Ming Dynasty miscellaneous record "Ju Yin Zhiwen" recorded: "Qianmen Bridge East Chen Nei official jewelry ... Rice market cheap roast duck, are famous for a while."
Beijing Cheap Shop opened in the fourteenth year of Yongle (1416) of the Ming Dynasty, and was originally named "Jinling Old Cheap Fang", indicating that it was a shop from Nanjing.
Cheap Fang roast duck is a simmering oven, and the later Quanjude is characterized by hanging oven roast duck. In fact, at that time, there was already a hanging oven roast duck, but Quanjude invited Master Sun, who had been in the special department of the Hanging Oven Grill in the Imperial Dining Room, to improve the stove and carry forward the hanging oven roast duck.
Nanjing roast duck
Since it originated in Nanjing, we must talk about Nanjing roast duck again. Nanjing roast duck is another flavor, the first use is the lake duck, this "lake" is actually Gaoyou Lake. Therefore, the lake duck is commonly known, in fact, it is one of the three famous ducks in the country.
Gaoyou duck not only produces good egg quality, but also has lean and fat meat. Because there is enough lean meat, Nanjing roast duck still maintains a beautiful lantern shape after it is cooked. When tasting, it is accompanied by belt meat and served with freshly drizzled marinade.
The marinade varies slightly from one store to another, some salty, some sweet, and some with a spicy flavor. And when you buy it, you don't have to buy a whole one, half or a quarter. A sentence of "front breast" or "back leg /back seat", the boss naturally understands.
Cantonese roast duck
Although there are also roast ducks such as Yiliang in Yunnan, if you want to call it a genre, the third genre of roast duck is definitely Cantonese roast duck.
It is said that in the past, Cantonese people thought that ducks were too heavy, so there were very few duck dishes in Cantonese cuisine. The roast duck was brought by the southern Song Dynasty imperial chefs, the roast duck can not first pick the duck tail of the "duck riot", coupled with the Guangdong hot duck meat is easy to spoil, so Cantonese chefs will first fill the abdomen with spices and then roast, "Cantonese roast duck" was born.
The same technique can also be used to burn geese, making roasting duck roast goose a regular at the tea restaurant table. From my student days until now, roast duck rice has been a resident guest on my lunch takeaway list.
Saltwater duck
Another duck I often eat was once the only cold-eaten duck in Chinese duck food, the brine duck. Thinking about it, Nanjing's saltwater duck is about to reach its best season. The brine duck has a nickname "osmanthus duck", not because it adds osmanthus flowers, but when the osmanthus blossoms are in full bloom, it tastes best.
So much so that the "White Gate Recipe" has a record: "During the August period of Jinling, the brine duck was the most famous, and everyone thought that the meat had the fragrance of osmanthus flowers in it." "The ancients smelled the osmanthus flowers and ate the saltwater duck, and even tasted the faint fragrance of osmanthus in their mouths.
Nanjing plate duck
Since Nanjing's roast duck and brine duck are mentioned, the plate duck is naturally not less (Nanjing people really love to eat duck!). Although the Nanjing plate duck does not have a history of 2,500 years as long as the saltwater duck, since its birth 600 years ago, it has become one of the "Three Treasures of Jiangsu" because of its crisp and long aftertaste.
A little bit of deya can be called "lute duck". The plate duck is delicious and easy to preserve, and naturally it was taken as a gift by ancient officials, so it got the name of "official ceremony board duck".
Sweet skin duck
Having said so much, it seems that there has been no food in Sichuan or anything. But in fact, readers with a good memory must remember that when we introduced Leshan cuisine, we greatly appreciated the Leshan sweet-skinned duck.
In addition to the sweet-skinned duck, Sichuan is more famous as the "Zhangcha Duck". The rich meat aroma of duck meat supported by the tea aroma, especially the tea aroma that comes from the opening of the pot, is even more breathtaking.
Some people want to say, "The platform is timid again, obviously called Camphor Tea Duck!" In fact, it is no wonder that many people misunderstand that most restaurants now do write camphor tea duck, and also say that they are smoked with camphor leaves. In fact, this dish was made by Huang Jinglin, the master of Sichuan cuisine, when he was the imperial chef, using tea leaves from Zhangzhou to smoke duck, and made this "Zhangcha duck".
Camphor tea duck
However, in later generations, the aroma of this dish is too strong, and many people think that the tea leaves cannot smoke this taste at all, and should be smoked with camphor leaves. Moreover, the acquisition of raw materials is relatively simple, and it has gradually become a "camphor tea duck".
Whether it is Zhang or Zhangba, after understanding these beginnings and ends, I not only have a new understanding of Camphor Tea Duck, but also planted tea leaves in Zhangzhou in my heart.
Fan Duck
Since Fujian is mentioned, there is a unique feature of making ducks in Fujian and Lingnan, that is, the use of ducks. When we talked about the dish earlier, the basic use is hemp duck or water duck. In any case, it is all duck genus.
But the duck is not, the duck is a genus of perched ducks. The characters also indicate that it is an exotic duck native to Central and South America. The duck is larger and smaller than the goose, and the meat is thick and tender. When you get to Hainan, it is called "Jiaji Duck".
Ginger hen duck (image source @ Xinwutang Seafood City official)
With these characteristics, we can achieve the famous dish of Fujian - ginger hen duck. Ginger hen duck will give full play to the characteristics of ginger mother, duck and sesame oil, the three do not grab each other's taste, but also should pay attention to the local people's health and nourishment.
Blood Duck
Next door in Fujian, jiangxi has a kind of duck food called lotus blood duck. This famous dish of Lianhua County pours duck blood into the pot after cooking the duck, and although the duck after the pot looks black and not slippery, the taste is very beautiful.
I would have liked to say that this craft is unique, but there is also one in Hunan next door to Fujian, called Yongzhou Blood Duck. A little further afield, there are vinegar blood ducks in Guangxi's Jeonju. Obviously, people learn from each other in exchanges, who comes first and who comes after them do not have to fight, delicious is the last word.
Blood duck has a strong taste, spicy and delicious, and the soup is poured into the rice bibimbap. Many people who have eaten have begun to drool just by hearing the word blood duck. (e.g. me)
Eight treasure ducks
Ducks like Blood Duck who "play with some flowers", as well as Eight Treasure Ducks in Shanghai. There were eight treasure ducks in the Qing court, but they were not the same as the eight treasure ducks in Shanghai today. The predecessor of Shanghai Babao Duck is Suzhou Babao Chicken, which is a classic Haipai improved dish.
There is a saying in the chef's industry called "chicken is fresh and ducky", although the chicken is white but the taste is not distinct, and the duck is larger and can be stuffed with more ingredients. These characteristics made Babao Duck very popular, and after continuous improvement by Shanghai chefs, it was finally sent to the throne of Shanghai's top ten famous dishes.
A good Eight Treasure Duck, with the appearance of "monk's head", is very full. The color is bright red, the marinade is thick, the aroma is overflowing, and the taste is crisp but not grilled.
Duck soup pot
There are also a variety of duck delicacies in other parts of the country, such as Anhui Wuwei plate duck, Jiangsu three sets of duck, Guangxi lemon duck, Hunan Zhijiang duck, Zhejiang dried vegetable duck, etc., and so on.
Brine duck platter
Not counting the way to eat duck head, duck neck, duck rack, duck wing, duck leg, duck offal, etc., I can't help but sigh "Chinese food is really profound!" ”
We can only stop here and leave it for readers to share your favorite duck delicacy with us in the comments section.
Duck Picking & Cooking Guide:
1. Pinch the throat of the duck with your hand, the duck with a soft throat is tender, and the duck with a hard throat is old.
2. Observe the root of the duck palm, the thicker the calluses at the root, the older the duck.
3. Pinch the tailbone of the duck with your hand, the duck that can obviously touch the bones is thin, soft and plump duck fat.
4. The duck butt part has two glands, called "duck riots", which are the main source of duck odor, but also contain toxins, except for a very few practices, which generally need to be removed.
5. The lymph in the neck of the duck, as well as most of the internal organs of the duck, need to be removed. Only duck hearts, duck intestines, duck gizzards, duck livers, duck pancreas can be eaten, of which duck gizzards are actually duck stomachs, and some places are misrepresented as duck kidneys.
Resources:
1. Hu Zhigang et al. The Historical Origin and Evolution of Duck Farming in China
2. Shen Jialu. "Master Li Xingfu's Whole Duck Feast"
3. Xiao Yu, food table. "I study the state banquet in the Forbidden City"
4.Han Lei. "Peking Duck "Flying" to the World from the Imperial Palace"
5. Yan Shizhou. "Funny Story Beijing Roast Duck"
6. Samantha, "Nanjing Roast Duck is Not Simple"
7. Zhu Yanhong. "Favorite Lotus Blood Duck"
8. Yang Naiyun. "The History of Peking Duck from cheap places"
9. Ma Xueren. "Nanjing Roast Duck"
10. Lulu, nickname. "Yongzhou Blood Duck, Smooth and Tender"
11. Kang Yi. "Autumn high duck fat eat duck can not miss four dishes"
12. Shani Yang. "Qin Huai Eight Perfections in Jinling Cuisine, Bring Wild Vegetables to the Table, and Make Duck Dishes to the Extreme"
13. Chen Chenwen. "Beijing roast duck traceability, materials and baking methods"
14. Li Dong. "Mao Zedong Please Eat Roast Duck: 13 Stories To Witness quanjude's 150 years"
15. China's time-honored brand - Cheap Shop
16. ZHOU Tong. "The Eight Treasure Ducks of the "Sea School""
17. Succi. "Su cuisine with one of China's "four big" famous dishes Yangzhou cuisine Huai'an cuisine Wuxi cuisine Suzhou cuisine Zhenjiang cuisine stir-fried its place name rhyme color"
18. Wang Xiang. The History of Peking Duck
19. Zhao Jianmin. "The Historical Origin of Beijing's "Roasted Duck in the Oven" and the Han Dynasty's "Burning"
20. Jiang Chao. "Jiang Fucai and jeonju's famous jealous blood duck"
21. Li Yanshan. "Peking Duck "Fun Talk""
22. Ai Guangfu, Qiu Shi. "On the Past and Present Life of "Peking Duck""
23. Lin Shujian. "Hainan Famous Dish - Jiaji Duck"
24. Huang Liangbi. "Breeding of Fan Ducks on Hainan Island"
25. Pan Yingjun. 《Cantonese Kitchen Treasure Book》
Text | taro
Figure | Zhong Heng