Quzhou's signature braised quartet—rabbit head, duck head, fish head, and duck feet—slow-simmered in a roughly twenty-five-spice chili brine laced with Quzhou tangerine peel, yielding bold, spicy, gelatinous street food from the one inland corner of Zhejiang that doesn't do subtle.
Quzhou's Three Heads and One Palm—braised rabbit head, duck head, fish head, and duck feet—is the city's defining street delicacy and one of Zhejiang's Ten Famous Snacks. Its origins are rooted in pragmatic frugality: from the 1950s onward, duck heads discarded by Quzhou cold-storage processing plants were sold cheaply to working families who braised them with tangerine peel from local Quzhou oranges (衢橘), garlic from the South Gate market, and aromatic herbs. Rabbit heads, prized for lean protein and nicknamed 'beauty meat,' joined the repertoire by the same decade. By the 1980s, the four items had coalesced under the collective name 'Three Heads and One Palm' and crossed over from street stalls into hotel menus. A folk legend attributes an earlier origin to the Ming dynasty: a poor family in Quzhou braised scavenged duck and rabbit heads with medicinal herbs; a passing traveler was arrested by the aroma, ate generously, left silver coins, and wrote the inscription 头头可道 (every head is worth praising). Some accounts identify this traveler as the geographer Xu Xiake, though no corroboration in his surviving diaries has been established, and this tale should be read as legend rather than documented history. Quzhou's position at the juncture of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Anhui—four-province crossroads, the origin of its name 四衢—gave its food a distinctive spicy profile absent elsewhere in Zhejiang.
Split a duck head and sip before you chew: chili-laced brine has soaked bone-deep. Then ribbons of tender duck meat peel away with gentle pressure. Duck feet deliver layered skin, tendon, and cartilage—gelatinous, giving, endlessly chewy. Rabbit head is leaner and more intensely savory. The heat is clean chili fire, not numbing; Quzhou tangerine peel drifts through the finish as a bright citrus note that lifts the whole rich, heavy braise.
Simmering in a roughly twenty-five-spice brine for two to five hours dissolves collagen from bones into the braising liquid as gelatin while simultaneously driving capsaicin and the fat-soluble aromatics of star anise, cinnamon, and galangal into the narrow marrow cavities. Quzhou tangerine peel contains high concentrations of limonene and citrus aldehydes that are volatile enough to survive long cooking when added toward the end—these compounds counterbalance the richness of the brine, making the overall effect lighter and more complex than a straightforward chili braise. The extended post-braise rest in the brine (at minimum one hour off heat) completes osmotic equilibration between the brine and the interior of the bone, ensuring the flavor reaches the marrow rather than remaining on the surface.
Variations
Vacuum-packed souvenir versions sold at train stations are milder, deliberately dialed down for unfamiliar palates. Some shops substitute pork head for fish head or add goose head, calling the expanded set 'Four Heads and One Palm.' Spice heat is highly variable—most stalls offer mild, medium, and fiery tiers. A version braised with Shaoxing wine instead of plain water is increasingly common in restaurants seeking a more refined profile.
On the Palate
Where Quzhou Three Heads and One Palm sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 120 min
Clean rabbit heads, duck heads, fish heads, and duck feet thoroughly; blanch all together in boiling water 5 minutes; drain, rinse under cold water, and pat dry
Watch outBlanch until the scum stops rising and the water clears, then rinse cold — leave the funk in now and no amount of spice brine will cover the gamey smell.
- 210 min
Combine the roughly twenty-five spices—star anise, cassia, bay leaves, fennel, white cardamom, licorice, galangal, sand ginger, clove, dried tangerine peel, and others—with dried chili peppers, garlic cloves, and Sichuan pepper in a tied cheesecloth sachet
- 310 min
Heat lard or vegetable oil in a large pot; add the spice sachet and fry over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes; add doubanjiang, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice wine; stir briefly
- 410 min
Pour in enough water to submerge all ingredients; bring to a boil over high heat; add the blanched heads and feet; return to the boil and skim off all foam carefully
- 5150 min
Reduce heat to medium-low; braise 2–3 hours until flesh is very tender but still clings to the bone and the skin has a slight chew
Watch outBraise low until the flesh is tender but still clings to the bone with a slight chew in the skin — a hard boil here makes it fall apart into mush.
- 660 min
Turn off heat; leave all ingredients soaking in the brine at least 1 hour to allow flavor to equalize fully to the bone
Watch outLet it steep off the heat at least an hour — this soak, not the boil, is what drives the flavor into the marrow; drain too soon and the bones taste hollow.
- 710 min
Drain, arrange on a platter, scatter with toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallion; serve at room temperature or reheat briefly; provide napkins generously
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