The original origin of Wuwei salted duck is also related to Zhu Yuanzhang. It turned out that when Zhu Yuanzhang was a child, his family was poor and he gave cattle to others. But the owner didn't feed him, so a group of cowboys got together and began to catch wild ducks. They didn't dare to take it home to eat, so they cut some thatch in the wild and set it on fire.
Sometimes it's not cooked well, but it's buried in the ash. When it's baked the next day, the duck is fragrant and rotten. This practice spread among the people and was often carried forward by beef sellers in Wuwei County, Anhui Province. He also explored a unique technology for making smoked duck with sawdust. Since then, the business of smoked duck in Wuwei Ma Chang has become bigger and bigger, and "smoked duck in Wuwei" has become a local flavor food popular all over the country.
It is a myth that Wuwei salted duck is also called smoked duck. Authentic Wuwei people never call it that. Even in other places, it is called Wuwei salted duck. This name has already penetrated into the bone marrow, and the thunder can't move. However, the practice of salted duck is indeed related to smoking. First slaughter and pluck the hair, then don't cut open the belly, pull the internal organs out of the anus with an iron hook, and then add star anise and clove. Smoked first and then pickled. When the whole body is buttery, the fresh and refreshing salted duck will be ready.
A salted duck, from slaughter to fumigation to marinating, is interlocking, and the process is complex and quite simple. However, for duck makers, it is as skilled as magic, which is no small pleasure for others.
The dried salted duck is the business card of inaction. In Wuwei, there are countless dried salted ducks, most of which are famous in cities, such as Majia in the south of the city and Yan Jia in the east of the city. It can be described as an old-fashioned brand known to women and children. Brine composition and smoking temperature are all secret stories handed down by ancestors, and they are never shown to people. An unprofessional person can judge good or bad without tasting with his mouth, seeing with his eyes, and smelling with his nose. Foreigners will never understand this.
Therefore, it is often necessary to explain whether it is "Majia" or "Yan Jia" to show the authenticity, but even so, outsiders still don't understand the mystery. As for being free to go out and make dried salted duck, even if it is not authentic, as long as the signboard of "being free to make dried salted duck" is hung, it will certainly become famous.
Saying "I won't eat anything" is a joke, but it is also in place. Wuwei Town is a thousand-year-old city, with rugged stone roads and deep ancient incense, full of the charm of ancient Huizhou. In such streets and lanes, dried salted ducks are scattered all over the floor, and the fragrance floats far away, tempting people's appetite all the time. Salted duck is good to eat, but it should be cold rather than hot, otherwise the taste will be 90% worse.
Salt water is sometimes indispensable, but vinegar, sesame oil and garlic cloves are indispensable. Outsiders often complain that the taste is wrong, but they don't know how to eat it wrong. Eating dried salted duck with nothing to do even has a special term called "chopping dried salted duck". The word "chop" is spoken in a dialect, which has a strong accent, but it is very tasty, as if it has the taste of dried salted duck.
Duck meat must be eaten separately from the head, neck, claws, wings and internal organs. Except duck meat, it is called "claw". Those who know good food prefer "claws". Guests come to the door, find a restaurant, chop a pair of horns, a bottle of old wine, and chew a little. It feels like a fairy.
One side is soil and water, and the other side is culture and history. According to the records of Wuwei County Records, salted duck was famous in the light years of the Qing Dynasty. "Goose was used in the folk wedding banquet, and later it was changed to duck." So far, the custom of sending salted ducks to men and women is unchanged, which is called "Super Festival". As long as they are engaged, the man will have to give the woman a "super festival" on holidays, and even the woman's seven aunts and eight aunts are inseparable.
Although the expenses are not small, the man always smiles when he marries his wife. However, salted duck is more used for daily entertainment. As long as tourists come, buy salted duck. This is the convention, urban and rural areas are consistent. Bought salted duck, the host felt worthy of the guests, and the guests felt treated with courtesy, which brought them closer.
Similarly, people and ducks need to be famous. I always thought that salted duck was born in the wrong place. If it had fallen in southern Anhui, it might have become a royal tribute, but it happened that the salted duck was born in a water town, and it is still struggling among the people, and it has not really reached the elegance hall.
Wuwei salted duck is a real civilian duck, even the method is purely manual, and the scale is not large. It used to be made by the test assembly line, but it still couldn't beat because of the taste. It can be seen that things are rare and expensive, and many are excessive. As for buying and selling, salted ducks have always only set up stalls, not opened stores, and operated on a small scale. Zhang Ji, Wang Ji and Li Ji, these dried salted duck stalls are like pearls, scattered in the old streets of Gu Xiang, with fragrance all over the town.
However, the reputation of dried salted duck is still famous year after year, and it has been included in "China Famous Cookbook", and it has been found in star-rated hotels. There is a restaurant in the provincial capital that sells directly, saying that it is not delivered directly every day, which is very authentic. It seems that the price is really high.
Salted ducks use ducks. Wuwei is a land of fish and rice with paddy fields, which is very suitable for raising ducks. When I was a child, every village had professional duck farmers, and the county freezer stocked a large number of ducks. When winter comes, flocks of ducks croak in the endless rice fields, one after another, which is very spectacular.
It is rare to raise ducks now, and people all over the country make dried salted ducks. It is impossible to use dried salted duck, which is a native of Wuwei. But ducks in other places are raised in different ways and taste different. Even in Wuwei, duck sources are in short supply, so geese have to be used instead. Now in Wuwei City, except in autumn and winter, there are basically only dried salted ducks in the famous dried salted duck stalls, but there are no dried salted ducks. I'm sorry.
Production method:
1, two ducks, 100g onion slices, 100g ginger slices, 25g fennel.
2. Clean the duck, wipe it with salt, marinate it in a jar for 4 hours, and turn it once in the middle.
3. Cook the duck in boiling water until the skin is tight, hang it at the tuyere and wipe off the fur coat.
4. Put four thin iron bars in the smoking pot, put the duck back down, smoke for 5 minutes, then turn it over and smoke for 5 minutes.
5. Add spices, soy sauce, onion and ginger to the cauldron. After boiling, add the duck and stew for 45 minutes, then take it out. Cut the duck into pieces and serve it on the table.