THE NANJINGER | 2022.05
NANKINISH With Wu Zeyuan
“No duck leaves Nanjing alive.” Statistics show that the city consumes over 100 million ducks each year. Everyone has heard of Nanjing ducks, but they are too often misunderstood. Visitors and tourists to Confucius Temple feel obliged to order salted duck from the restaurants nearby. They would find the duck unpleasantly salty and no more authentic than what they have already had in their home cities. Nevertheless, they would bring back some vacuumpacked duck as souvenir gifts because they find nothing else worth buying in the vicinity. That, of course, is not how the local people eat duck. Now, let me show you where to get the most authentic Nanjing duck, what kind of duck and cuts are recommended, and how to place your order. The local language gives us a hint. Instead of saying “We buy some duck,” Nanjingers say “We get some duck chopped”. The word “chop” (“zan” in Nanjing dialect, “zhan”; 斩 in Mandarin) implies action and freshness, and most importantly, the particular places where the ducks are chopped to order. Those places are delicatessens that mainly, or even only, sell ducks. When you approach a duck deli during its busier hours, you will hear the cleaver quickly chopping against the wooden block, and that is the spirit of “zan” (perhaps onomatopoeia as in the English word “chop”), the sound of deliciousness to any duck lover.
In Nanjing, you will find duck delis on almost every street and around every residential community. People need them all the time. Don’t know what to eat for supper? Get some duck chopped. No time to cook? Get some duck chopped. Friends coming for dinner? Get some duck chopped. Visiting someone? Get some duck chopped and bring it over. Unlike Peking Duck, which is typically a treat in finer restaurants, the duck sold in Nanjing delis is an everyday essential. Two major types of duck are sold apart from everything else; the renowned salted duck and the less renowned roast duck. Both are at around ¥23 per 500 grams these days, which is perhaps the lowest price you can get for any cooked meat. Much as people love salted duck, it may be argued that roast duck sells even better among the locals. “Try the roast duck.” That’s my advice to every out-oftown guest. You might think that roast duck is too commonly seen around the world, but roast duck made in authentic Nanjing style is indeed something unique about the city. The flavour exemplifies the local palate, and it is rarely found anywhere else. Evidence suggests that the famous Peking Duck is a ramification of Nanjing roast duck as the Ming dynasty moved its capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421 CE, but the two types of roast duck have long become considerably different. Duck in the Nanjing style is roasted with steam. The cavity of the bird is filled with
27
