Luzhou Roast Duck

Luzhou roast duck takes its name from old Hefei and works a local mallard that is cured, scalded, glazed and roasted slow over fruit-wood embers, emerging crisp-skinned and tender, glowing red, rich but never greasy—a flavour to rival the roast ducks of Beijing and Nanjing.

Luzhou roast duck grows from the duck-roasting tradition of the old Luzhou prefecture, nourished by the duck-rearing customs of the Yangtze-Huaihe wetlands and borrowing from both northern and southern techniques to form its own path, a signature of the Hefei (Luzhou) branch of Anhui cuisine's five great styles.

Served whole and carved at the table, diners first eat the crisp skin with sweet bean sauce in thin pancakes with scallion, then have the carcass simmered into soup or congee—one bird, two courses, and a headline dish of any Hefei banquet.

The crisp skin from slow fruit-wood roasting, the glossy red colour and the tender character of the Yangtze-Huaihe mallard set Luzhou roast duck apart from its cousins elsewhere.