Beer-Braised Duck 啤酒烧麻鸭
Beer-Braised Duck is featured among the local specialties of Jiangxi.
Beer-Braised Duck (啤酒烧麻鸭) is a Jiangxi dish of duck braised with beer, described as an everyday home-style dish of Nanchang (南昌). In 2018 the China Cuisine Association (中国烹饪协会) named it one of the ten classic dishes of Jiangxi cuisine.
Where it comes from
Beer-braised duck grew out of Jiangxi's habit of cooking with rice wine. Jiangxi cooks like to add a splash of alcohol when braising or stir-frying, or braise a dish entirely in it, to freshen the flavour, remove off-odours and add aroma. As rice wine came to be made less often, and beer was easier to buy than rice wine, cooks began braising duck in beer instead.
The China Cuisine Association released its list at the 2018 'Chinese Cuisine' (中国菜) food festival in Zhengzhou (郑州), naming 34 regional cuisines with ten classic dishes each. Beer-braised duck appears among Jiangxi's ten alongside three-cup chicken (三杯鸡) and Lianhua blood duck (莲花血鸭).
How it is made
The dish is traditionally stewed at high temperature, and the finished duck carries the fresh aroma of beer. A study in the journal Food Industry Science and Technology (食品工业科技) calls it a representative Jiangxi dish and notes that high-temperature stewing can toughen the duck and draw out its moisture. The researchers tested vacuum low-temperature (sous vide) cooking at 70 to 90 °C for six to ten hours and found 80 °C for six hours the best of the settings they tested for the duck's quality and flavour.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.