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Nanjing Salted Duck is a local duck dish from Nanjing, China. The history of the dish goes back hundreds of years, possibly to the 14th century, but it grew more famous during the Qing Dynasty. The tender white duckmeat has some fat but is not greasy, and in presentation the dish is fragrant and often crispy. Nanjing Salted Duck prepared shortly before or after mid-Autumn is reputed to taste the best, because of duck production during the sweet osmanthus blooming season. Sometimes the seasonal version of the dish is called Osmanthus Duck.
Nanjing Salted Duck is often regarded as a dish to share. As a popular pastime, whether locals on family holidays or simply daily visitors, people in Nanjing often take to the streets to buy Nanjing Salted Duck. And with Nanjing thought of as China's "duck capital,", some enthusiasts eat most parts of the duck, notably the gizzard, kidney, heart and liver.
Nanjing is a culinary center famous for its Jinling dishes (Chinese: 金陵菜系), especially quality ducks and a whole variety of duck dishes. The number of ducks sold in Nanjing exceeds that of, and duck sales are over 100 million per year.
Cooking methods
The wings and feet of the cleaned duck are removed. The body is then eviscerated with the esophagus and trachea removed, the anus is cleared out, and then the carcass is soaked in water to be cleaned then drained. Spices and recipes vary, but a simple approach is to rub 25 grams pepper into the body with a further 25 grams stuffed inside. This is then cooked in a pot. It is then pickled (1–2 hours in summer, 4 hours in winter), then hung to dry in a well ventilated area. Water is then added to ginger 3 grams, onion 1 gram and star anise 1 gram in a soup pot. The cook makes sure that body of the duck is entirely submersed in the liquid. Simmering for 20 minutes is enough for some, but other recipes say up to 45 minutes. Finally, the duck is cut into strips and transferred onto a plate.
Origin, according to tradition
One legend holds that when Zhu Yuanzhang(Chinese: 朱元璋) was the emperor (with Nanjing as the capital in the 14th Century), there was a dispute of sorts, and an edict was issued to kill all the roosters in the city. This solved a noise problem, but the result was no chicken to eat. The people of Nanjing had to eat duck instead, which gave rise to the prominence in Nanjing of duck dishes like Nanjing Salted Duck.
Other accounts claim that Nanjing was famed for duck dishes centuries earlier, dating even to the Southern Dynasties (420~589 A.D.).