Text: Wei Shuihua

Picture: Pixabay

Ducks seem to be second-class birds in both the East and the West.

Hans Bidderman's Dictionary of World Cultural Symbols says: "duck, aquatic birds and poultry are not as important as geese. Wild ducks were first hunted and then domesticated (from ancient Egypt to 1511 BC), which often appeared in works of art, implying pornography, and its exact nature was uncertain. "

and Yuan Mei said in "the menu of the accompanying garden and the menu of the feather family": "The chicken has the greatest power, and all the dishes depend on it. Make the leader of the feather family, and attach it to other birds. " Duck is the main auxiliary role.

The reason is that westerners pursue taste, so geese with thick meat and dense taste take the lead. At the same time, geese, like cattle and sheep, are still herbivores, which has an advantage over omnivorous chickens and ducks that can be eaten raw. Under the cooking concept of simplicity in the western world, ducks naturally become the alternative of geese.

Orientals pursue taste, and the chicken with many tendons and bones can stand cooking better, so that the flavor substances slowly seep out becomes the first choice. In China, there are more than ten names for boiled and diced chicken, such as boiled chicken, chopped chicken, chopped chicken and slaughtered chicken. The function of a bowl of chicken soup is beyond the food itself, and it is a good medicine for China people to treat diseases and strengthen their health without diseases.

In contrast, ducks that are not prominent in all aspects seem to inevitably occupy a supporting role. But from another angle, duck meat has the most balanced proportion of fat, protein and bone tendons in poultry ingredients, which makes it especially suitable for barbecue. Maillard reaction and dry distillation can bring crispy skin, bright color and oily taste. In contrast, the roast goose that is not easy to taste and the roast chicken with insufficient fat are all eclipsed by the roast duck.

In China, there are roast ducks with their own characteristics, especially in areas with developed economy and many literate people. This has something to do with duck's golden mean position, which coincides with China's traditional literati's outlook on life.

No:1?

The history of China people eating roast duck can be traced back to prehistoric times.

In a way, Chinese food is the art of fire. Barbecue, which uses air as the medium of fire, is the most primitive cooking method. It is much older than burning slate as medium, frying oil as medium, boiling water as medium and steaming steam as medium.

By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the barbecue technology was very mature, and there were stone carvings of kebabs in the complete works of Portraits of the Han Dynasty. The fans used for barbecue and related materials such as "roasted beef", "roasted dog ribs" and "roasted chicken" have also been unearthed in Mawangdui No.1 Han Tomb. Obviously, this is not only the simple cooking of cooked food by primitive people with fire as the medium, but also an interesting record of cooking technology and life interest.

As it happens, ducks were common birds in the central and eastern parts of ancient China. The pottery ducks unearthed in Hemudu, Zhejiang Province and Wuping, Fujian Province have a history of 5,111 years ago. The archaeological sites in Jurong, Jiangsu Province, Pingquan, Hebei Province and Zhengzhou, Henan Province have all unearthed bronze ducks and even duck eggs 4,111 years ago.

Although most of the duck meat eaten at that time was wild duck, the subcutaneous fat was not enough, and the taste was not as good as that of domestic duck. It was the inferior roast duck with skin, meat and no oil that Liang Shiqiu despised. But in any case, roast duck has become a tradition, rooted in the life of China people.

Qi Min Yao Shu, written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the 6th century A.D., may be the earliest record of roasted domestic ducks. In the book, it is described that raising ducks "is good for chefs to raise ducks for sixty or seventy days." Roast duck is called "roasted duck in the nest", and its practice is "fat duck, clean and washed, boneless for making a cup, five combinations of wine, five combinations of fish sauce, five combinations of ginger, onion, orange peel, and soy sauce, and one combination of stains for a long time, it will be roasted in the middle."

Simple translation: Roast duck should be kept for 61 or 71 days. Choose the fat one, wash it and cut it into pieces. Marinate it with wine, fish sauce and onion, ginger and orange peel soy sauce for a meal before roasting.

how exquisite.

Coincidentally, the words "roasted duck" also appeared in the Record of Food Treasures written by Yu Yi of the Southern Dynasties at the same time. This is probably the whole roasted duck, which has taken shape as a modern roast duck.

No:2? 2

In fact, roast duck not only witnessed the change of Chinese food culture, but also concentrated the social fashion in different periods. Zhang Kun, a native of the Tang Dynasty, recorded in detail the popular "Roasted Duck with Open Fire and Dark Taste" at that time: put the duck in a special cage, then put the cage on a hot charcoal fire basin, and put a basin filled with soy sauce and vinegar outside the cage. When the duck was roasted in the cage, it was hot and thirsty, so it desperately drank the sauce from the basin outside the cage. After a long time, the duck feathers burned off and the duck skin was cooked.

As a dynasty with nomadic ancestry and advocating force, the roast duck in the Tang Dynasty may seem rough, brutal and cruel compared with the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but its ingenuity also reflects the progress of cooking art on the other hand.

in the highly developed song dynasty, the style of roast duck was further improved. In "Dream of Tokyo" and "Dream of Liang", it is recorded that a kind of "duck" food is sold in restaurants in Kaifeng and Hangzhou. In Wu dialect, the word "sui" is used to describe the sultry summer climate in the south of the Yangtze River. Literally, the "cheese" in food probably refers to the roast in a closed environment-obviously, this is what the roast duck looks like today.

The closed oven can keep the temperature more constant, and make the surface of roast duck more evenly colored and the meat more loose; Barbecue fireworks repeatedly flow back in the furnace body, making the ducks smell more smoky; Long-term stewing process can make duck meat rich in juice and oily.

No:3? (3)

By the early Ming Dynasty at the latest, the technology of roast duck in economically developed areas in the south of the Yangtze River was quite mature. Zhu Yuanzhang's capital is Nanjing, and many local folklore points out the inextricable connection between this civilian emperor and Nanjing roast duck.

Legends may not be taken seriously, but regardless of class and social status, the fashion that everyone loves roast duck is truly recorded in the notes of various scholars.

During the Yongle period, after Zhu Di moved to Beijing, the signboard of "Jinling Sliced Duck" was also hung on the streets of Beijing. I'm afraid it's a bit far-fetched to say that Emperor Zhu personally abducted the roast duck masters to Beijing. The emperor has a busy schedule, so he has no time to manage the roast duck business of ordinary people. However, the northward movement of the political center has also led to the migration of food fashion, but it is a historical evolution that can be seen.

After the Eight Banners entered the customs, Nanjing's status as a capital was cancelled. On the contrary, the aristocrats of the Manchu Dynasty deliberately lowered the status of Nanjing, a "holy land of Longxing", in the minds of Zhu Ming's old people for fear of wave after wave of anti-Qing and regaining sight.

The most direct expression of this political change is that the signboard of "Jinling Pianpi Duck" on the street in Beijing has become "Beijing Roast Duck". Over time, most people think that roast duck is a local feature of Beijing origin.

where did such a roast duck, which has been circulated for thousands of years, leave its footprints and continue to this day?

Beijing: Hanglu Roast Duck

| Beipai Authentic |

Although Beijing Roast Duck was produced by Nanjing Roast Duck, it has to be said that it has undergone tremendous evolution in hundreds of years.

First of all, Nanjing duck is characterized by stewing furnace inherited from the Southern Song Dynasty, but Beijing duck has developed a hanging furnace duck represented by Quanjude. The so-called hanging oven means that the oven has no oven door, and the ducks are hung into the oven with long poles, which can be turned over at any time to ensure uniform heating.

In addition, the duck hanging on the stove uses an open flame, and the fuel is smokeless fruit wood, which has strong firepower, so the subcutaneous fat rate is high and the duck skin is crispy. Others, especially disrespecting the lack of oil in hanging duck, invented barbecued roast duck without furnace. Although the duck oil did melt fully, the duck meat became old and fell off.

The unique eating method of Beijing roast duck: noodle sauce, scallion, shredded radish with water, shredded cucumber and lotus leaf cake with duck meat wrapped in skin. On the one hand, it comes from the skills of Shandong cuisine masters who have the deepest influence on Beijing's diet-scallion, noodle sauce and flour cake, which are all common side dishes in Shandong. On the other hand, it is tailor-made for crispy hanging duck. Green onions and vegetables balance greasy, the flour paste provides sweet flavor, and the flour cake makes the roast duck eat with a sense of ceremony and provides starch to fill the hunger.

in the past two years, the most popular roast duck in Beijing is Dadong, which has overshadowed the old brands. In fact, Dadong Duck has indeed made many innovations in eating methods, such as dipping duck skin with white sugar, dipping duck meat with garlic, and putting roast duck slices in hamburgers. However, it is also suspected of driving up the price of ducks, making Beijing Roast Duck more and more a banquet food far away from the fireworks of civilians, which is extremely hateful.

In fact, Dadong Roast Duck itself, which is also a typical Beijing-style hanging duck, has not made many innovative breakthroughs in technology.

Weifang, Shandong: Mizhou Roast Duck

| Roast Duck Mother |

If Nanjing Roast Duck is the "father" of Beijing Roast Duck, Shandong Shandong Cuisine is undoubtedly the "mother" of Beijing Roast Duck.

most of the raw materials of Beijing roast duck, including stuffed duck, seasoning, flour cake and fruit trees, come from Shandong. Of course, the Shandong cuisine master will not let all the good local ingredients be transported to Beijing. For example, the famous Mizhou roast duck can be called Shandong roast duck.

Mizhou is the old name of Zhucheng in Weifang, which is the hometown of Liu Yong, the "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo". In addition to producing literati, there are also chefs here. Some people say that Zhucheng's position in Shandong cuisine and Jiaodong cuisine is like Shunde in Cantonese cuisine, and its amorous feelings can be seen.

The flavor of Mizhou Roast Duck is not much different from that of Beijing Roasted Duck. The biggest feature is that the chefs of Shandong cuisine can make a "whole roast duck banquet" with various by-products of roast duck: thick duck breast is used to stir-fry leeks, duck tongue is stewed with mushrooms, duck intestines are stir-fried, mandarin fish is steamed in duck oil, and sea cucumber is slipped in duck soup, which is dazzling.

Kaifeng, Henan Province: Bianjing Roast Duck

| Roast Duck Grandfather |

The Bianjing Roast Duck in Kaifeng is probably the oldest roast duck in existence, which restored the tradition of "roast duck" in the Dream of Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty and preserved the characteristics of the ancient method of stewing duck to the greatest extent.

Bianjing roast duck is roasted with jujube charcoal, which is different from the fast-burning pear wood, apple wood and other fruit trees. The wood is dense and rich in oil, and there will be smoke and jujube wood oozing out during the roasting process. The process of stewing in the oven is actually a smoking process. The finished duck skin is purplish red, and there are no scattered carbon chips hanging in the oven. Moreover, the skin and flesh can not be separated, and you can eat the jelly-like fat under your skin with one bite. For those who are not afraid of oil, this kind of roast duck is much more delicious than hanging duck.

another gold standard to test the success or failure of braised duck is the texture of duck breast. A good braised duck consumes less water and has the effect of roasting outside and steaming inside, so the duck meat is loose and has a fluffy taste. In particular, the thick duck breast meat should be as fragrant as the steamed bread that has just been baked, so it can be regarded as a successful stewed duck.

Leshan, Sichuan: Sweet-skinned duck

| Better than roast duck |

Strictly speaking, sweet-skinned duck is not a roast duck.

However, this kind of duck, which is marinated first and then fried, does have an infinitely similar taste to that of roast duck, which is another interpretation of China roast duck.

In fact, the practice of sweet-skinned duck is not much different from that of ordinary braised duck. Stir-fry rock sugar into sugar color, add spices and cook it into marinade to marinate. In fact, the stewed duck is very delicious, with soft skin and delicious duck meat, but Sichuan people who are heavily seasoned especially think that its taste is not enough. Then, the stewed duck is controlled to dry, and it is repeatedly drenched with boiling oil until the skin is crisp and the color is brown and red.

The last step is the key of sweet-skinned duck: brush the caramel while the oil temperature on the duck skin is high and it hasn't cooled. This makes the duck skin redder in color and crisper in texture, and it will not soften even after cooling. The sweet taste coincides with the roast duck skin dipped in sugar produced by Dadong.

Sichuanese pay attention to it. They think that sweet-skinned ducks can only be drenched with oil, but not fried whole. In fact, in order to cook at a lower temperature, we only want the crispy duck skin without affecting the juicy duck meat. Its cooking idea is very close to the roast duck originated in the Central Plains, but the people in Sichuan Basin have used a more intense treatment method, which is another typical example of the multi-faceted expression of Chinese diet.

Hefei, Anhui: Luzhou Roast Duck

| It has an ancient meaning |

In order to show the "ancient meaning" of roast duck, all localities like to use the old name as its prefix. Many roast duck restaurants on the streets of Beijing are labeled as "Beiping Roast Duck", Zhucheng Roast Duck calls itself "Mizhou Roast Duck" and Nanjing Roast Duck calls itself "Jinling Sliced Duck".

Of course, it also includes "Luzhou Roast Duck" in Hefei.

As the capital of Anhui Province, Hefei is always inextricably linked with Nanjing, the former capital. Roast duck is one of them. Like Nanjing roast duck, the legend of Luzhou roast duck often points to Zhu Yuanzhang, an Anhui native.

But unlike Beijing Roast Duck and Nanjing Roast Duck, Luzhou Roast Duck takes a more people-friendly route. Few people who live in Hefei have not eaten at the old Luzhou Roast Duck Restaurant. Moreover, the biggest feature of the store is not the roast duck itself, but the duck oil soup dumpling and duck oil sesame seed cake made with duck oil as the main ingredient, which is a by-product of roast duck.

The so-called duck oil soup dumpling is a small steamed dumpling with roast duck oil instead of jelly. Duck oil sesame seed cake is a thousand-layer sesame seed cake made of duck oil crisp, which contains the rich fragrance of roast duck and is also animal fat, which is much more delicious than the old lady cake with butter crisp and lard crisp.

Nanjing, Jiangsu: Xingdian Roast Duck

| Rosin smells fragrant |

China Roast Duck is roughly divided into two groups, namely Nanjing and Beijing.

But the most representative Nanjing roast duck is Xingdian Town in Jiangpu District.

Xingdian Town is a place where Hui people live in compact communities, and catering is the main livelihood of Hui people. Since the mid-Qing Dynasty, the cooked food made by the Hui people in Xingdian is very famous, especially the Muslim roast duck.

the characteristic of halal food is to pay attention to hygiene. After the handcuffs are cut open and slaughtered, in addition to cleaning the hair, they should be washed and salted repeatedly to remove blood stains until the blood is invisible to the naked eye. This kind of clean process, which is close to cleanliness, is difficult for ordinary hotels to do.

The finished Xingdian Muslim roast duck, the duck skin is red to black water chestnut color, and the knife can see oil when cutting. The eating method of Nanjing roast duck is generally less complicated than that of Beijing roast duck. After being cut into pieces and put on a plate, it is served directly on a bowl of white rice, which is extremely fragrant. For those with heavy taste, the juice naturally roasted in the process of roast duck is mixed with soy sauce, sweet and sour to make halogen, which has a unique pine nut flavor.

if you use roast duck marinade to bibimbap, it is even more wonderful.

Chenzhou, Hunan: Lijiang Roast Duck

| Southward Hub |

Chenzhou, Hunan is connected with Shaoguan, Guangdong, and geographically, Chenzhou already belongs to the Pearl River Delta region south of Nanling.

However, Lijiang Town under the jurisdiction of Chenzhou has another name of "Little Nanjing" in the local area. In addition to the complex water network composed of Liao River, leishui River and Xiangjiang River, it has become an important water transport hub, which has the same appearance as Nanjing. Besides, the roast duck, a specialty here, has great similarities with Nanjing roast duck.

the reason can be traced back to the early Ming dynasty. In order to strengthen the control of the south and eliminate the remnants of the late Yuan Dynasty, after reunification, Zhu Yuanzhang set up Chenzhou Prefecture in the south of Hunan and stationed a large number of soldiers. The skill of roast duck may have spread to Chenzhou at that time, and then spread from this Nanling portal, which influenced the roast duck in Guangdong and Yunnan later.

In addition, it is said that Beijing Cheap Square Roast Duck was founded by He Mengchun, an official minister in the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty, after his retirement. He Mengchun is also from Chenzhou, Hunan Province. If the legend is true, then the real ancestor of Beijing Roast Duck should be Chenzhou Roast Duck.

Liao Jiang roast duck is eaten in the same way as Nanjing duck. The only thing that needs special attention is that local people should take a ride when eating roast duck.