🍽️ Nanxiong Dried Duck

Air-dried duck with strong cured aroma.

Nanxiong dried duck is a traditional cured meat of Nanxiong in Shaoguan, in the mountainous north of Guangdong where winter drying conditions are ideal. Local shelduck is slaughtered, repeatedly rubbed with salt, then air-dried and pressed flat into a slab, which gives the dish its name. The finished duck is flat and round with a waxy yellow skin; the flesh is firm and dry, lean meat rose-red and fat milky white when sliced, with a strong cured aroma. It is usually eaten steamed, with the rendered fat poured over rice, or sliced and steamed with bamboo shoots or taro. Nanxiong people must air-dry their dried duck around the winter solstice, and it is an essential cured meat on festival tables. It represents the blending of northern-Guangdong Hakka and Jiangnan culinary styles, sharing a root with Jiangxi's Nan'an dried duck and showing the mountain-region wisdom of using cold dry winters to preserve meat.