🍽️ Yongzhou Blood Duck

Duck stir-fried with blood sauce, south-Hunan bold.

Yongzhou Blood Duck is a classic of Yongzhou and southern Hunan, a dish with strong local personality within Hunan cuisine. A local young duck is slaughtered so its blood can be reserved; the chopped duck is first stir-fried until fat renders, then tossed with ginger, garlic, chilies and young ginger, and right before serving, vinegar-mixed duck blood is poured in and rapidly tossed so the meat is coated in a thick, sauce-red blood gravy. The duck comes out dry, firm and fragrant, the blood sauce clinging richly—sour, spicy and aromatic, the vinegar cutting any gaminess. It is a festival and guest-of-honor dish in Yongzhou, superb over rice, and a bold representative of southern Hunan's hearty tastes. First-timers may find it intense, but it is unforgettable.