There are not many local specialties that really belong to Xiamen. We see sea oyster frying and soil shoot jelly on Zhongshan Road, Gulangyu Island and Zengcuo'an, and the ginger hen duck actually originated in the next city of Quanzhou, and later introduced to Xiamen and Taiwan, and is now a local specialty shared by Fujian and Taiwan.
Because Xiamen's tourism industry is relatively strong, these specialties of southern Fujian are particularly popular in the city. In the case of ginger hen duck, in the food street of Xiamen, you can always see its figure. Four people and a duck, about 25 yuan per person, can solve a lunch, which is very popular with tourists.
But many people say that Xiamen's ginger hen duck is not delicious at all. In fact, I understand this experience. Once in Zengcuo'an, I also tried it once, and it was really very unpalatable, completely up to the level of the ginger hen duck. To be honest, I don't even have the qualifications to call ginger hen duck.
So, why is the ginger hen duck in the food street so hard to eat?
A qualified ginger hen duck, generally selected from the best duck or vegetable duck, ginger must be old ginger. Then place in a casserole dish and simmer for a while. After cooking, cut into lumps, and finally pour the remaining soup on the meat, and then eat.
The reason why the ginger hen duck in the scenic spot is not authentic is that the merchants have lowered the standard in the selection of materials in order to save costs. Second, after the ginger hen duck is cooked, it needs to be eaten as soon as possible, otherwise the duck meat will be old and the soup will become salty. But the food street is bought and sold, the duck has long been cooked, in order to wait for the guests to heat up repeatedly.
Sometimes a bowl of ginger hen duck can be heated from morning to night, waiting until the tourists eat it in their mouths, who knows how long it has been outside. And this process, but not always in the continuous warm, to the meal point to heat up, after the meal point directly on the stall.
Winter is better, the summer sun exposure, sometimes even the pot lid is not covered, and after intensive passenger flow, not to say whether it is good or not, hygiene is a question mark. So when traveling in Xiamen, the ginger hen duck on the food street I definitely do not recommend.
The real ginger hen duck can be recommended for tourists to go to the eight cities to find it, or to go to the restaurant with the theme of Minnan cuisine. If you are a well-appointed foodie, you can go to some larger farmers' markets or community streets, as long as you see someone queuing, you can smell a smell of ginger at a distance of five meters, then this shop is most likely to start.
Not only the ginger hen duck, but also the clay shoot jelly, sea oyster frying, and sand tea noodles we mentioned earlier, it is difficult to find a special dish that satisfies you in the scenic food street. If you want to experience a little more authentic, and don't want to waste time, I still suggest that you can stay away from the scenic spot and find some restaurants with the theme of Minnan cuisine.