Nangjing Salted Duck,Simple but Remarkable

Cooking duck as a dish is a tradition in Nanjing.The earliest written proof was found in Wu Jun’s History of Qi kingdom in Six Dynasties.The story happened when the army of Liang Kingdom confronted the opposite army of North Qi. At the beginning,the food in the army of Liang was poor and soldiers could hardly fill their stomach,let alone fighting against the enemies.The Emperor Jianwen of Liang transported three thousand dan rice and one thousand ducks to the battle field.They wrapped the rice and duck meat with lotus leaves and distributed to all the soldiers.The soldiers were greatly encouraged and beat the enemy at once.

Since late Qing Dynasty,the most popular duck food has been roast duck and salted duck.On the national grand banquet when the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949,Nanjing osmanthus salted duck was served as a cold dish. Nanjing Salted Duck,Nan’an Pressed Salty Duck and Peking Roast Duck shared the honor of Chinese Three Famous Duck Cuisine.

Another name for salted duck is osmanthus duck in that when the osmanthus Is in full bloom around the Mid-autumn Festival,the duck meat is in its best time Tor cooking.When the duck is cooked at this time of the year,it smells a profound flavor of osmanthus from the meat.The salted duck in Nangjing also occupies three consummate features”:smooth and snow-white skin,tender meat,and fat but not greasy.

hancheng

See author's posts