When it comes to Kunshan cuisine, Zhoushi flung duck is definitely an authentic flavor not to be missed!
Zhoushi flux duck that looks like a saltwater duck. It tastes fresher and more delicate. Photography / Nannan Wang
The word "爊" (āo) first appeared in Jia Sixun's Qi Min Zhi Shu (Qi Min Zhi Shu) and is full of outdoor wild cooking. Bury the food in the ash fire and simmer, "the grass is mud sealed, the pond ash is burned", the south also has a similar cooking method, the yellow mud lotus leaves wrapped in the whole chicken buried in the high temperature soil simmered, the southerners call this "beggar chicken" or "called flower chicken".
The people of Kunshan laughed and said nothing. They occupy the best grass beach lake in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, reeds, wild birds inhabit and breed invigorating places, from the ancient wilderness wild birds collection, hunting and boiling for rice cooking. Flammable, Kunshan people have been eating for hundreds of years.
The Zhou City Flurry Duck broke through during the Guangxu Period. Zhoushi is located in a low-lying area, with rivers and lakes, rich in fat and beautiful hemp ducks, and "burning" developed to the end of the Qing Dynasty, which is already referring to "slow stewing". The duck is slaughtered and hairless, opened and washed, first boiled over high heat, and then simmered over low heat, without soil ash, and dipped in the marinade of the old soup made of cloves, cinnamon, sweet pine, fennel and other ten flavors of Chinese medicine. Duck meat with medicinal herbs has a strange fragrance, low temperature dipping makes the original duck meat smooth and tender, umami bone, luscious, looks like Nanjing brine duck, but the stewed duck eats more fresh and delicate.
"A house of simmering, full of incense", Zhou Shi, a water and land transportation fortress, quickly came out with a piece of duck meat with endless memories. A duck shop went from selling only three or two ducks a day to selling seventeen hundred and fifty ducks a month. The rise of the flurry duck in Zhoushi has made the commercial circulation channels blocked in Zhoushi Town become smooth, and the aquaculture industry has risen on a large scale, and every Spring Festival, there is a lively scene of "a thousand ducks downtown".
The stewed duck of the Zhoushi TaiheGuan, starting from the Guangxu years, has been passed down for five generations, and has been passed down to today's Ma Zheng, and the vacuum-packed simmer duck has sold hundreds of thousands of ducks around the world. Taihe fluffy duck initially won with ingredients, it is not clear whether the rice wine is well placed or the clove cinnamon is matched, and people who come and go think that the Taihe flurry duck has the best aroma. Ma Zheng said that thanks to the Kunshan customs, a cavity with water, the Kunshan people who belong to the water especially know how to cook a party of water and soil to be mysterious.
Like many other long-established brands, conforming to the trend of the times and preserving the essence of innocence are indispensable keys to the continuation of the century-old signboard. In the old photographs, we see the Red Three Hooves-like Taihe Duck, the most coveted color in the era when meat was precious, which makes people understand why the full name of the former Duck is called "Duck with Flammable Sauce". Today, those rich oily red sauce that once made people full of happiness are too greasy for modern people who are light and healthy. Taihe Stewed Duck has improved the final oiling and coloring process, the flammable taste in the duck meat base is still delicious, the visual and taste is more fresh and elegant, and the aftertaste is more distinctly wrapped between the lips and teeth. For Taihe Liu Duck, the transformation becomes an upgrade. Today, the burning duck and its era are once again standing at the small outlet of history, and Ma Zheng, who has worked in the enterprise for many years, is returning home to the old shop for generations, looking for opportunities for the transformation and prosperity of traditional tastes.
In Kunshan, from a mountain to a water, a street to a city, all the flavors are the real present, the flowing water of the present. The taste that has been circulating for a hundred years will also conform to the development of the times, complete the transformation and upgrading of taste, and continue to accompany the twilight of Kunshan people.
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The original text is taken from "Authentic Wind Objects , Kunshan" with additions, subtractions and changes
Book "Authentic Wind Objects, Kunshan"
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