Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup

The soup centres on duck blood and glass vermicelli, with duck intestine, liver, gizzard and fried tofu, all bathed in a duck-bone broth — clear, savoury and warming.

Nanjing's duck cookery is over a thousand years old, and a plain duck-blood soup was its forerunner. In the Qing someone added vermicelli, and the dish took its modern form, becoming widespread across the city from the 1990s.

Eaten hot and fresh, it serves as breakfast or an any-time bowl, finished with coriander and chilli oil to taste.

Silky blood, springy vermicelli and a mellow broth, with giblets adding depth, make this plain-looking bowl the most everyday face of Nanjing's duck culture.