Gourmet in China’s Ancient Capital of Nanjing

Nanjing is the capital city of Jiangsu Province. Known as “Jinling” in ancient times, it was a longstanding political, economic, and cultural center of southern China in history and is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, alongside Beijing, Xi’an, and Luoyang.

Nanjing Salted Duck, a representative dish of Jinling cuisine, has over 2,000 years of history. From ingredients to cooking techniques, the dish accentuates the original flavors of the ingredients and retains their freshness, which give it a light but delicious flavor. The duck is most commonly eaten around the Mid-autumn Festival in September. The dish also goes by the name Osmanthus Duck, due to the availability of sweet osmanthus flowers, an ingredient of the broth.

Nanjing is a city that has had the duck fever since ancient times. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (770-221 BC), ducks were raised as livestock. During the Six Dynasties (222-586), various types of duck dishes were made, among which the salted duck was the most popular. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the roasted duck became a common side dish on the dinner table, and as the local saying goes, “A meal without duck is not a proper meal.” During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), gourmet Yuan Mei wrote down the recipe of making marinated and roasted duck in his gastronomy book Garden of Contentment.

To make salted duck, there are many steps that must be followed, such as rinsing, marinating, draining, and boiling. Dry-roasted salt and double-cooked brine are key ingredients in the dish. Roasting duck with salt can kill the thermophilic bacteria and enrich its flavor. The brine preserves the duck meat and can be divided into two types: the new brine is water saturated with dry-roasted salt and spices which is used for the first time; and the old brine is a highly concentrated water solution of salt after repeated boiling. The longer the brine has been cooked, the more soluble substances of the duck are dissolved, giving it a rich and unique taste.

The traditional technique of making a salted duck puts great emphasis on the quality of the brine, and people believe that the older the brine is the richer the flavor it has. The century-old brine is therefore deemed a treasure.

The Qinhuai River which runs through the city is the birthplace of the age-old Nanjing culture. Local Qinhuai snacks that were sold at the flourishing riverside area since the Six Dynasties gained nationwide fame during the Ming and Qing dynasties as one of the four major snacks, known for their refined craftsmanship, attractive appearance, exquisite ingredient selection, and unique flavors.

The Qifangge Restaurant located near the Confucius Temple was established in the late Qing Dynasty more than 100 years ago. Its traditional specialties are sesame pancakes with duck fat and shredded dried-tofu in chicken broth.

Sesame pancakes with duck fat, as the name suggests, needs to enclose a lump of duck fat in the dough before baking it. The white sesame topping adds an aromatically sweet kick. For local gourmets, the hearty combo of a sesame pancake and a chicken broth with finely sliced dried sheets of tofu make a great meal. The soybean slices, which can be cut as thin as one millimeter, absorb an appetite-inducing meaty flavor from the broth. Needless to say, they are all boiled in the chicken broth with half a dozen goodies, such as ham, bamboo shoots, and shrimp.

The starchy and sweet lotus root stuffed with rice is another popular dessert. The porous lotus root, filled with glutinous rice and jujubes, absorbs all the sticky syrup and sweet osmanthus flavor, making it one of the four must-try side dishes along with sweet taro, plum cake, and glutinous rice balls fermented in rice wine.