Wuwei Smoke-Braised Duck

Wuwei smoked duck took shape in Wuwei, on the Yangtze's north bank in Anhui, during the Qing dynasty, and is reckoned to have some two centuries of history. Local accounts credit a Hui beef-seller, Ma Changyou, with refining it and working out the sawdust-smoking method that gives the bird its colour and woody scent. It belongs to the same Wuwei tradition as the better-known salt-pressed flat-cured duck (板鸭); the two are often spoken of as one, but this line leads with hot smoking and a master-stock braise rather than the cure-and-press of the flat duck.

Skin the colour of dark amber, faintly smoky on the nose before the first bite. The flesh pulls cleanly off the bone in moist, deeply savoury strands, the woodsmoke threaded all the way through rather than sitting on the surface. Behind the salt there is a long warm hum of star anise, clove and fennel from the stock. Best eaten with your hands, a little of the spiced jelly from the stock clinging to each piece.

Two heat processes do two jobs. Smoldering hardwood sawdust burns cool and smoky rather than hot, so phenols and carbonyls in the smoke deposit on the salt-dried skin, fixing its amber colour and woody aroma while the surface proteins set. The bird is turned every few minutes for an even coat. The master stock then does the seasoning: a sachet of star anise, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, clove and fennel among some thirty aromatics simmers with rock sugar, soy and vinegar, and the smoked duck poaches gently in it before resting under banked ashes — low, steady heat that drives flavour inward without toughening the meat.