Youxian Duck in Blood Sauce 攸县血鸭

Youxian Duck in Blood Sauce (攸县血鸭) is duck stir-fried with its own blood, made in Youxian County (攸县) in Zhuzhou (株洲), Hunan, with the county's own speckled ma ducks (麻鸭). In 2015 the Youxian county government put Youxian blood duck on its second list of county-level intangible cultural heritage, as one of four local food customs.

Ingredients

People's Daily Online's Hunan channel (人民网湖南频道) credits the Youxian ma duck, a national geographical indication product, with setting Youxian Duck in Blood Sauce apart from the blood duck of Yongzhou (永州) and Shaoyang (邵阳). A Zhuzhou Daily (株洲日报) essay by He Zhiwei (贺志伟) quotes an old local saying about the chillies of Huangtuling (皇图岭) and the ducks of Xinshi (新市): "once tasted, never forgotten". He says the duck used is the firm-fleshed Xinshi duck.

How it is made

He Zhiwei describes the key step: the duck's blood is poured over the chopped duck pieces while they are being stir-fried, and the result is fresh and tender. Hunan Geography (湖湘地理) magazine links the dish to Huangjiao No. 1 (皇椒一号), a chilli variety first shown in 1985 from Yinquan village (荫泉村) in Huangtuling, bred by crossing ox-horn peppers with a local chilli. The magazine writes that after the summer solstice, when the peppers turn red, they fill Youxian blood duck, taking away the gamey smell and adding both heat and sweetness to the blood and meat.

How it is eaten

People's Daily Online calls it sweet, crisp and tender, a standard dish to eat with rice or with drinks, and notes that Youxian blood duck has become a regular house dish in Changsha (长沙) restaurants. Hunan Geography counts it among Youxian's ten famous dishes. In He Zhiwei's Youxian, it is one of the "twelve reds" (十二红) that a family puts together for lunch at the Dragon Boat Festival, alongside pork cooked with whole garlic, sun-dried pork, red amaranth, salted duck eggs and Youxian pressed tofu.