舌尖上的美食 第19期:宜良烤鸭 Yiliang Roast Duck

Yiliang Roast Duck宜良烤鸭

During the period of Emperor Guangxu, the closing years of the Qing Dynasty, a Yunnanese named Xu Shi from Yiliang goes to Beijing sitting for the imperial examinations in the hope of winning an official rank. He is companied by an attendant named Liu Wen who is all eyes and all ears to learn cookery from a Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, most notably for the art of preparing Peking duck. Later, when they return to the hometown Gouzhen of Yiliang, Xu Shi finally wins a seventh rank, the same as the post of county magistrate while Liu Wen opens a restaurant called Zhibin Garden at the local train station. But restaurateur Liu is not content to merely reproduce the Beijing Duck of the capital; he wants to localize it and make it unique to the region. Liu uses a mud oven instead of a brick oven, honey instead of malt syrup for the glaze, and most distinctively pine branches and needles instead of the Gaoliang hardwood normally used for Peking duck. The end result is now called Yiliang Duck and has become a Yunnanese speciality. Half a century rolls by, when mentioning Liu Wen’s roast duck, many people will still be eaten outflow to drool.

清光绪年间宜良人许实进京赶考，带了个随从陪侍叫刘文。许实备考应试，刘文则常去一家烤鸭店眼观鼻嗅耳闻地偷学技艺；许实考取功名得了个七品官，刘文学得了技艺回乡,在狗街火车站开了个烤鸭店名为“质彬园”，刘文因地制宜，他改用土坯火炉，用松毛结暗火烘烤，北京用麦芽糖水做涂料上色，北京烤鸭用高粱秆做撑筒，他改用芦苇，做出了狗街烤鸭的特点. 半个世纪过去了，吃过的人回忆起刘文的烤鸭，仍然食欲大动，终涎欲滴，赞不绝口。