China · Chinese
Qinyou fuzi (braised farmed duck)
The sixth cold starter of the three-head banquet. 'Qinyou' is the old name for Gaoyou, and 'fuzi' refers to a wild duck, so this began as a local dish built on wild fowl. This version is **explicitly downgraded to farmed duck (salted or fresh)** — wild birds are protected by law and their keeping and trade are restricted, so a banquet may not use wild fowl. The technique is blanch, colour the sugar, then braise the whole bird until the skin is lacquered red and the meat carries a sauce aroma; it is eaten cold. Public reference · home adaptation, not a historical original.
Public reference · Downgraded adaptation (farmed duck for wild duck) 'Qinyou' is the old name for Gaoyou; Yangzhou cooks like to prefix a dish with the local place-name to give it standing. 'Fuzi' is an old term for wild duck, generally meaning a water bird taken from the wild. The Huaiyang region's dense water network made wild duck a seasonal autumn game bird, and stewed it gave clear broth and firm flesh. Today the dish **requires an explicit downgrade**: wild birds are legally protected and cannot be bought, so this version uses farmed duck. It keeps the lacquered red colour and the soft cold-meat character of a banquet dish, but the flavour genuinely suffers by comparison. The dish name is kept as the seat list has it, and the English uses transliteration with the ingredient bracketed rather than writing an unverified ingredient into the name. The 2018 group-standard report lists the cold dishes by name only, so **this technique comes from a public home recipe with no correspondence to the banquet's own kitchen method**; it is not a historical original. **The seat list records only the dish name, not the method; this version's technique comes from the public home recipe Braised duck chunks on xiachufang and has no correspondence to the actual three-head-banquet kitchen method.** It is not a historical original or a house secret. **Important downgrade:** 'fuzi' in the dish name means wild duck, and this version **substitutes farmed duck; no wild fowl of any kind may be used** — wild birds are nationally protected, and hunting, buying, keeping or transporting them is illegal, so a banquet must retain proof of quarantine and provenance. After the downgrade both flavour and texture differ noticeably from wild duck, which has firmer flesh and a cleaner duck-fat aroma. Because duck fat is used, this is classified as a meat dish under this project's convention. The English name keeps the transliteration Qinyou fuzi with the ingredient bracketed, so no unverified ingredient is written into the dish name, matching the seat list's practice of keeping the original name. **Quantities, sugar-colouring amount and braising time are editorial for 4 servings and have not been kitchen-tested.** **It must be thoroughly reheated before being eaten cold** (see the allergen note). Only the technique is taken; no therapeutic claims are adopted. Contains soy and wheat (light soy, dark soy, cooking wine); dark soy and mixed seasonings may carry pepper or other ingredients, so check labels. **No wild fowl may be used**: 'fuzi' in the dish name means wild duck, but wild birds are legally protected and hunting, buying, keeping and transporting them are all illegal, so this version is downgraded to farmed duck and the purchase must retain a quarantine certificate and proof of origin. **This must be thoroughly reheated before being eaten cold** — Salmonella risk is highest in poultry and the heating step cannot be skipped. Contains meat; this is not a vegetarian dish. 下厨房：红烧鸭块 — The method itself: the duck is washed, drained and chopped; put in water, brought to the boil and cooked about 2 minutes, then lifted out and rinsed; a little oil is heated with star anise, cassia and rock sugar and the sugar melted over low heat; the duck is added and fried over high heat until it changes colour and gives up fat; cooking wine is tossed in, then dark soy for colour; ginger and the rest of the seasonings and water go in, and it is covered, braised and finally reduced. This version adds light soy, salt and scallion, and re-sets the braising time for the size of the pieces. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/86809/ 扬州晚报美食团：扬州发布“三头宴”团体标准（搜狐，2018-01-18） — Seat evidence: the eight cold starters are listed in order — scallion jellyfish, two-shoot salad, wine-marinated goose feet, scallion shrimp, ginkgo and mushrooms, Qinyou fuzi, crisp-braised crucian carp and jellied pork trotter — placing Qinyou fuzi sixth as a retained local dish name. The report gives dish names and groupings only, with no methods or ingredient lists. https://www.sohu.com/a/217424559_740963 淮扬菜 — 维基百科 — Cuisine context: Huaiyang cooking belongs to the Jiangsu school and its banquet section lists the three-head banquet; the entry notes the school turns even humble or strongly scented raw materials into remarkable dishes, and that it values keeping perfect form and a bone-tender, yielding texture. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B7%AE%E6%89%AC%E8%8F%9C AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.
Ingredients
- farmed duck, salted or fresh, chopped into pieces1000 g
- water for blanching and braising2000 ml
- rock sugar for caramel40 g
- vegetable oil for the caramel and the duck50 ml
- star anise4 piece
- cassia bark5 g
- ginger, sliced20 g
- scallions, cut into segments40 g
- cooking wine30 ml
- light soy sauce30 ml
- dark soy sauce for colour15 ml
- salt5 g
Directions
- 1
Chop the duck into 3 cm pieces, rinse and drain. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the duck and cook about 2 minutes while skimming off the scum, then lift out with a slotted spoon and rinse clean. **The blanch is not about cooking the meat but about removing the ducky smell and the blood** — keep it short and do not let it simmer.
- 2
Make the caramel: put a little oil and the rock sugar in the pan and melt over the lowest heat until the sugar has dissolved and the bubbles are amber. Tapping the sugar with the spatula helps it break down. The moment the colour deepens, use it at once — **if it goes past that point it turns bitter and the whole pan is lost.**
- 3
Pour the caramel over the blanched duck and stir-fry over **high heat** so every piece is coated and the fat renders and the skin tightens slightly. The rendered duck fat is the base of the aroma here, so do not skimp on the heat, but do not fry it dark either.
- 4
Add the cooking wine and toss, then the dark and light soy and stir to colour. Add the ginger, scallion segments, star anise and cassia, then pour in enough water to come just level with the duck. Bring to the boil, turn down low, cover and braise about 40–50 minutes.
- 5
Uncover, raise the heat and reduce, turning the pieces so the glaze coats them evenly, until the sauce is thick and the skin is glossy red. Taste and adjust the salt (with salted duck, reduce it or leave it out). Do not reduce it dry — keep a little liquor to serve with.
- 6
This is served as a cold dish, but **it must be thoroughly heated before eating**: put the whole bowl in a steamer for at least 10 minutes until piping hot in the centre, or microwave on high for over 3 minutes, then cool to just warm before serving. The Salmonella risk of cold dressed poultry cannot be skipped. Plate it on a wide dish with the skin facing up, spoon over the reserved liquor and scatter with scallion.
Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.