Talking about Hunan tourism and food, we must think of Changsha, Zhangjiajie and Wen and friends and so on, in fact, Hunan people's breakfast is also particularly elaborate, Hunan people love shivering powder, especially Changde rice noodles, it is said that the taste of a great, in addition to Changde sauce plate duck is also very famous, words do not say much, today to recommend Changde's food 01. No duck can swim through Dongting Lake alive. In addition to the aforementioned valley duck bowl, there are sauce plate duck, duck king? That's a lot of duck.

As a Chinese National Geographical Indication product, Changde's soy sauce plate duck is well known, and there are several local brands such as Jindan, Tongfatty and Yangshorty. But for the old-fashioned soy sauce duck, locals still recommend Jindan, and kindly remind to remember to make it mildly spicy.

When you arrive at Jindan's main store on Purple Rim Road, it's like stepping back in time to a state-run store from decades ago. Inside the transparent glass window, various kinds of soy sauce plate food are neatly arranged, and the head of the house is filled with shiny soy sauce plate duck. Aunties in white hats and lab coats are busy vacuum-packing and weighing the ducks when they see someone come to the window.

Eating duck with sauce is addictive, the meat is not dry, not firewood, chewing sauce full of flavor, followed by a composite of spicy flavor, and a lot of strength. But even if it is "spicy", you can't help but keep eating it.

Changde people are definitely the top three in Hunan's ability to eat spicy, such as the sauce plate duck, can eat a lot of people in the spicy, extra spicy.

On a trip here, people usually carry several bags home. The six-dollar-a-piece soybean skins are cheap and tasty, and there are also soybean lotus root, soybean duck claws, soybean duck wings, soybean beef, soybean fish, and so on. In order to save the convenience, I also bought soy sauce plate duck claws and duck wings bag, the results and bulk weighing the taste is completely different, no soy sauce and spicy flavor, the taste is as light as boiled.

02. Duck Fighter

Duck Fighter, meaning all of a duck, duck neck, duck head, duck tongue, duck wing, duck paw, duck rack, duck liver, duck gizzard, duck intestines? From head to toe, inside and out no waste at all.

Changde duck king is like the Hunan version of Sha Xian snacks, wherever you go you can see its figure, we are all familiar with this flavor. Many people in Changde are familiar with the flavor of the duck king from Gao Shan Street, which has been open for more than 10 years Teng Ji Jiu San Duck King.

The meat of the duck king, brined in brine, is moist and tastes faintly of Chinese herbs. The duck necks, wings and heads are so spicy that you want to be gentle with them, while the duck intestines, which are thoroughly soaked in oil, are so spicy that they go straight to your head, and you want to eat them even after you've gotten over it, which is sadistic.

And the snail meat is also a surprise, large, firm meat, with chili, perilla and other compound flavor, a great wine.

There are two Teng Kee's on Ko Shan Street, and some say the older one is the real deal. I asked the cashier aunts at both stores, and they explained it was the same owner. Currently there are only four Teng Kee stores, the other two are in Golden Diamond and Purple Bridge.

03. Pig's feet

Changdeans also love pig's feet, which are ubiquitous from the morning rice noodle yards to the late-night snacks that go down well.

After 3 p.m., I came to the old Dequan pig's foot store in the Xiyuan neighborhood, and I didn't expect to eat the door, but I reluctantly dialed the phone number on the sign, and the boss said that he wouldn't open the door until after 4 p.m. "Do you want to buy it now? If you want, I'll open the door for you first."

Following the owner into the store, I saw a large pot of marinated pig's feet on the table, glowing with a tantalizing reddish sheen.

After being heated in the brine, the pig's feet were so flavorful that they fell off the bone with a single bite, and the meat was soft and moderately spicy, plus it was doused with a sauce made with balsamic vinegar, which was very detoxifying.

04. Beidi Spicy Pork

The spicy pork is not meat, but tofu skin.

When I was in school, I would always go around to the small workshop on Beidi Lane to buy the spicy meat on my way home, and if I caught it right out of the pot, it was really flavorful and crispy.

▲Changde spicy meat can be found everywhere, you can also go to the small workshop to buy

Now Beidi spicy meat has been moved into the industrial park, there is a large plant, leaving only a small store in the alley across the street from a high school to do retail, and from time to time, people come to, in order to be closer to this childhood memories.

The spicy pork is sour and spicy, with a very special flavor. Another yellow package of dried beans from Beitei is also delicious, which is shredded, chewy, sour, spicy and juicy, refreshing and appetizing.

05. Beitei green bean paste

Buy the spicy pork and walk deeper into the alley to Beitei Lane. I've been out drinking green bean paste many times since I grew up, but I can't help but frown and miss the Beitie green bean paste here.

When I was a kid, Beitie's spicy pork was a daily snack, and if I had any money left over, a cup of Beitie's green bean paste would be perfect.

The store is less than 10 square meters, with only one table, and sells only three things:

Mung bean paste, jujube tea, and lotus seed soup.

The mung bean paste is as good as it used to be. The mung beans are peeled and ground into a fine sandy texture, which slides down your throat when you suck it through a straw, and it's extraordinarily refreshing after it's been chilled to relieve the summer heat.

Eating from morning to night in Changde, you will find that most of these are flavors that have been passed down for several years, and perhaps some of them don't sell beautifully enough to instantly seduce the appearance party. But you have to believe that for thousands of years, Changdeans have never treated their tongues poorly when it comes to eating.

If you're planning to come to Changde to eat your way through the city, we've also prepared some Changde Travel Tips to help you on your journey.

Changde Travel Tips

①

Changde has the Taohuayuan Airport, which is directly accessible from more than 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It's a two-hour ride from Changsha to Changde by motorized train (the high-speed train is still under construction), but every trip is overcrowded, so it's best to book your tickets a week in advance or you'll just have to stand there.

② Be sure to take a walk through the city center's Old West Gate, an old neighborhood of more than 100 acres that won the 2018 British National Landscape Award. With the moat as the axis, the Old West Gate is a combination of flat bridges, pavilion bridges, corridor bridges, arch bridges, and timber steps, combined with cultural relics such as Changde cellar houses, ancient city walls, and bunkers, which is well worth having fun with, and in the evening, you can also go to the Old West Gate Theater to watch a play. There are also poetry walls, large and small river streets and other landscapes are also worth a visit.

③

The Peach Blossom Garden, more than 30 kilometers from downtown Changde, is the real-life paradise that served as the prototype for Tao Yuanming's "Tales of the Peach Blossom Garden". Liu Ye Lake in the northeast of Changde is a good place for vacation, and Liu Yuxi, when he was relegated to the post of Secretary of Longzhou, once sent off a guest by the lake and wrote a poem, "A crane in a clear sky rows up the clouds, and leads the poetic feelings to the blue night.

4Changde taxi is very cheap, 6 yuan for 2 kilometers.

5Most restaurants support WeChat, Alipay and UnionPay, but Jindan Sauce Duck Business Office and Beidi Food Processing Factory only accept cash, so remember to have change ready before you go.