Honghu Wild Duck 洪湖野鸭

Where it comes from

Honghu is a county-level city administered by Jingzhou on the north bank of the Yangtze, and Honghu lake is a major wetland nature reserve. The Jingzhou government says 'Honghu wild duck' covers many wild waterbirds, 39 species in eight orders and nine families. A local saying ranks them: of nine kinds of wild goose and eighteen kinds of duck, none beats the qingtou (青头, 'green head') and the bata (八塔). Honghu wild duck is registered as a Chinese geographical indication product, and red-braised green-headed duck (红烧青头鸭) was named one of Honghu's ten famous dishes in September 2022.

How it is made

The website of the Honghu Ecological Tourism Area in Qujiawan (瞿家湾) gives a method. A Honghu green-headed duck is plucked, singed over a flame to remove the down and cleaned, keeping the gizzard and heart. Head, tail, feet and backbone are cut away and the rest is chopped into small pieces. The pieces are stir-fried in hot sesame oil until the bloody juices have cooked off, splashed with Shaoxing wine, then braised with salt, ginger and water for about half an hour. Garlic whites and sugar go in near the end, and the braise continues until the sugary sauce pulls into threads. The leftover sauce, enriched with lard, is poured over the duck, which is finished with spring onion and pepper.

The same site calls red-braised duck from Qujiawan a traditional dish of the Honghu area and describes how present-day chefs have refined its knife work. The whole duck is cut into 36 even pieces, each with meat on the bone, then fried, braised in stock with ginger for about an hour, glazed with sugar and arranged on the plate in the shape of a duck resting on the water.

Flavour and texture

The finished dish is a glossy yellow, with rich, tender meat that is fragrant and crisp, a fresh sweetness and a thick sauce. The tourism area site says the meat keeps its shape while being tender, the sweetness reaches the bone, and the gamey flavour is strong.