Leigong Duck 雷公鸭
Leigong Duck is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.
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Leigong Duck (雷公鸭) is a traditional dish of Hunan cuisine (湘菜): a young duck is cured and air-dried, steamed, then braised, and served chopped into pieces. Leigong (雷公) is the Chinese god of thunder. In Changsha (长沙) it is part of the traditional New Year's Eve dinner.
How it is made
New Hunan (新湖南), the Hunan Daily news service, gives the basic sequence: the duckling is cured, air-dried, steamed and then braised, and the whole duck is chopped into pieces and served in an earthenware bowl. Changsha's Haoshishang (好食上) restaurant uses Shunhua Wuling duck (舜华武陵鸭) and puts it through more than thirty steps.
A version described by Guangzhou Daily in 2009 starts with a Dongting Lake (洞庭湖) duck of 2.6 jin (1.3 kg). The cured duck is cut up and stir-fried in hot oil with cassia bark and star anise until golden, drained, and packed into a stewing pot with yellow dried chillies and huzi wine (糊子酒). After 30 minutes over a medium flame it is left to soak in its juices for five hours, sealed, and steamed for 30 minutes before serving; the whole process takes more than eight hours.
Flavour and texture
The finished duck is a glossy red, with a dry, fragrant and spicy flavour. Changsha Evening News describes the meat as dry-fragrant and tender without being stringy. Guangzhou Daily's reviewer found that it looks much like jiangban duck (酱板鸭, pressed sauce duck) but eats firm and smooth, and that although no chilli is visible on the plate, the tongue is left burning.
How it is eaten
New Hunan lists it on a traditional Changsha New Year's Eve menu, where no feast is complete without chicken and duck; the dish comes with the wish that the coming year will go 'guagua jiao' (呱呱叫), a phrase that echoes a duck's quack and means first-rate. At the 2021 China International Food and Catering Expo, Haoshishang's Leigong Duck was among 48 signature dishes made by Hunan cuisine masters for Changsha's showcase.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.