Red-Skin Duck 红皮鸭子
Red-Skin Duck is featured among the local specialties of Anhui.
Red-Skin Duck (红皮鸭子) is the roast duck of Wuhu (芜湖), Anhui, also known as Wuhu red-skin roast duck (芜湖红皮烤鸭): the bird is roasted, then deep-fried, sliced with its skin on and eaten dipped in a sweet gravy. The Wuhu city government lists it as a traditional dish of Anhui cuisine (徽菜).
How it is made
CCTV's food programme Flavour (味道) shows the duck being roasted first and then deep-fried. The Wuhu market-regulation bureau ties the dish to the plump, tender ma ducks (麻鸭) raised in the river-and-lake country around the city.
The cooked duck is cut, skin and all, into slices about a finger wide. The stock left from simmering duck is boiled down in a pot with sugar, vinegar and a house spice mix into a sweet, savoury gravy (卤), and each slice is dipped in it before eating.
Flavour and texture
The city government describes the duck as golden with a red glow, crisp but not crumbly, and melting in the mouth. The market-regulation bureau sums up the flavour as crisp skin and tender meat, a glossy red colour, a balance of salty and sweet, and rich without being greasy.
Where it comes from
Red-Skin Duck is everyday home food in Wuhu, and most of the trade has been in small workshops, small restaurants and street stalls. In spring 2026 the city's quality-and-standardisation and food-safety associations, together with several duck shops including Lanyixing (蓝义兴烤鸭) and Xiaoma (晓马鸭店), drew up a group standard on how to make it, the Specification for the Making Technique of Wuhu Red-Skin Roast Duck (芜湖红皮烤鸭制作技艺规范), with support from the city market-regulation bureau. It sets common rules for raw materials, processing and product quality but leaves each shop its own gravy recipe and its own way of handling the heat. During the 2026 Dragon Boat Festival holiday a Wuhu supermarket sold zongzi (粽子), glutinous-rice dumplings, filled with red-skin duck.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.