Xinyu Numbing-Spicy Duck Trio 新余麻辣鸭三件

Xinyu Numbing-Spicy Duck Trio (新余麻辣鸭三件) is a plate of three duck parts, the head, the wings and the feet, cooked hot and numbing in Xinyu (新余), Jiangxi. People's Daily Online (人民网) describes it as another leading player in the night life of Xinyu people.

How it is made

The duck heads, wings and feet are first braised with care in a seasoned stock (卤制). They then go into a wok over fierce heat and are stir-fried with chilli, Sichuan pepper (花椒) and other seasonings. Just before they come out of the wok they are sprinkled with a numbing-spicy powder (麻辣粉) and drizzled with sesame oil.

Flavour and texture

People's Daily Online sums up a bite in five words: fragrant, hot, numbing, salty and crisp (香、辣、麻、咸、酥).

Where it comes from

The government of Fenyi County (分宜县) lists spicy duck in its series on the Fenyi Eight Big Bowls (分宜八大碗) and tells how the dish began. In the 1960s or 1970s a Fenyi wife, whose husband raised ducks, was cooking an old duck hen as a chilli-spiced dish for him because his joints ached. As she was finishing, a rat ran past her feet and in the fright she knocked half a bowl of Sichuan pepper into the pot. Her husband liked the result so much that he wanted it every few days. Word of the dish spread locally, and it was later extended to spicy duck heads and to the spicy duck trio.