What it is
Duck rice (鴨肉飯) is a bowl of white rice under sliced duck, either boiled or smoked. It is finished with a spoonful of duck fat, a sauce made with it, or minced pork sauce. It is the quick, everyday order at a duck shop, which usually also sells duck noodle soups, plates of sliced duck and mixed offal (下水).
Where it came from
The dish's history is best traced through individual shops, and several in the south have been trading for generations. Zhu-Ji (竹記) in Tainan has sold sliced duck since 1942 and is now run by the third generation. In Kaohsiung's Yancheng district, Ya Rou Zhen (鴨肉珍) has been open for more than 65 years and is also in its third generation. Lan Jie (蘭姐) in Linyuan trades under a "since 1963" name, and Hou Chi (侯記) in Sanmin has been going for about 40 years. Duck rice is a separate dish from duck thick soup (鴨肉羹), which is closely linked with Xingang in Chiayi County.
How it is made
Shops buy whole ducks and boil or smoke them. Some steam the bird first, then smoke it with a sauce that turns the skin a caramel brown. Zhu-Ji in Tainan uses four-month-old ducks from Neipu in Pingtung, delivered fresh each day. The duck is chopped or sliced to order. The rice takes its flavour from what goes on top: plain duck fat, a sauce of duck fat with fried shallots, or a ladle of minced pork sauce (肉臊).
How to eat it
Duck rice is eaten at lunch and dinner. Order a small or large bowl, then add a plate of sliced duck, a duck soup or mixed offal (heart, liver, intestine and gizzard). The duck is dipped in soy paste, ginger soy paste or garlic sauce. Some shops sell duck plates at market price, so ask before ordering.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Zhu-Ji serves its duck boiled or smoked and seasons a duck and glass-noodle soup with dong cai (冬菜), a preserved cabbage. Feng Jie (鳳姐) dresses its rice with duck fat and tops it with duck, bamboo shoots and preserved greens (梅干).
- Kaohsiung
- At Ya Rou Zhen in Yancheng, duck rice is essentially minced pork rice with duck on top, and the pork sauce gets as much praise as the duck. Hou Chi pours a duck-fat sauce and fried shallots over its rice and adds thick slices of duck.
- North
- In Hsinchu, Miaokou Duck Rice (廟口鴨香飯) in the City God Temple food area spreads steamed and smoked duck over white rice, adds pickled cucumber and finishes the bowl with duck fat and spring onion.
