What it is
Salted duck (鹽水鴨, also written 鹹水鴨) is a whole duck cured with salt and pepper, then cooked gently. The white meat is tender and carries some fat without tasting greasy. It is chopped and eaten cool, as a cold starter.
Where it came from
Salted duck comes from Nanjing, where ducks have been raised for more than 2,000 years. A local legend links the city's taste for duck to the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, who is said to have ordered every rooster in Nanjing killed. In the Ming the salted duck was eaten by commoners and at court alike. Under the Qing, restaurants and teahouses around Fuzimiao (夫子廟), where the imperial examinations were held, made it for the candidates. Duck cooked in the eighth lunar month, when osmanthus flowers, was thought to smell of the blossom, which gave the dish its other name, osmanthus duck (桂花鴨). In 2012 China listed it as a geographical-indication farm product.
Nanjing natives who came to Taiwan with the Nationalist army brought the recipe to the military dependents' villages (眷村). Zuoying in Kaohsiung once had the largest naval village in the country. Sailors on shore leave bought the duck there, and naval units ordered it for holiday meals.
How it is made
In Nanjing the wings and feet come off, and the duck is rubbed with pepper, with more put inside. It is cured for one to two hours in summer and about four in winter, hung somewhere airy to dry, then simmered with ginger, onion and star anise. The Su family in Zuoying uses female Muscovy ducks. They rub them with coarse salt, crushing the bones so the salt gets in, and leave them overnight. Next morning the birds soak for about an hour in the family's old brine, then are steamed with star anise and old ginger inside.
How to eat it
Salted duck is a cold dish, chopped and served cool, usually as a starter. In Taiwan it is mostly bought to take home. The Su family sells it by the box, half a duck at a time, with a bag of broth for duck noodles or duck rice. Duck tongues make a snack to go with beer.
Around Taiwan
- Kaohsiung
- In Zuoying, the Su family's grandmother, a switchboard operator at a military post, learned the dish from a fellow Nanjing native and began selling it more than 50 years ago. Her granddaughters now run the shop. The steaming broth is used to braise wings, feet, tongues and gizzards.
