Chicken and duck gizzards blanched together to remove impurities, then stir-fried twice at maximum heat — a Huizhou banquet centrepiece that showcases the wok mastery required to make offal crisp, clean, and deeply savoury.
Twice Stir-Fried Poultry Gizzards is a signature banquet stir-fry of Huizhou cuisine, its name encoding the cooking method in full: 'shuang bao' (双爆, double burst) refers to two separate high-heat stir-frying passes, while 'chuan fei' (串飞) describes blanching both kinds of gizzards together — 串 (strung, combined) in boiling water — using the classical rapid scalding technique known as 飞水. Combining chicken and duck gizzards exploits their contrasting muscle structures: chicken gizzard walls are denser and more intensely flavoured, while duck gizzard is broader and marginally more tender, creating a dish with internal textural variety from a single bowl. Huizhou cuisine is distinguished by its tradition of elevating offal through precise technique, and this dish stands among the most technically demanding preparations in the banquet repertoire.
Each piece snaps with springy resistance then releases an intensely savoury, mineral-edged flavour — no off-notes, no toughness, just the pure, clean character of perfectly timed offal with a faint warmth of ginger and Shaoxing wine.
Gizzard walls consist of smooth muscle with dense, short fibre bundles and significant connective tissue rich in collagen. The initial blanch (飞水) at 100°C denatures surface proteins and drives off volatile amines responsible for the characteristic off-flavour, without cooking the interior past its optimal point. The two stir-fry passes at maximum wok heat — wok surface exceeds 300°C in the Leidenfrost zone — rapidly trigger Maillard reactions between meat proteins and residual sugars in under 60 seconds per pass, building flavour compounds and a lightly caramelised surface; the second pass allows the soy-wine glaze to adhere and concentrate. The critical temperature window: gizzard muscle fibres fully denature into a crisp, resilient matrix at approximately 72–78°C internal temperature; a few seconds more at high heat tips them into rubbery territory.
Variations
Some chefs substitute pork tripe for duck gizzard, echoing the classic 'oil-burst double crispy' of Jiangnan cooking; a summer version adds fresh green pepper and celery for brightness; garlic-forward versions load minced garlic into the second stir-fry pass for a pungent, aromatic finish.
On the Palate
Where Twice Stir-Fried Poultry Gizzards sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min
- 110 min
Clean chicken and duck gizzards: peel away any yellow membrane, score the interior with crosshatch cuts, then rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear.
- 23 min
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil with ginger slices and Shaoxing wine; blanch both gizzards together for 2 minutes, drain immediately, and pat thoroughly dry — this is the 'chuan fei' (串飞) step.
Watch outBlanch the gizzards just 2 minutes then pat bone-dry — this drives off the off-smell without cooking the interior, and dry gizzards sear instead of steam.
- 32 min
While gizzards rest, prepare the stir-fry sauce: combine soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, a pinch of sugar, white pepper, and a small amount of cornstarch in a bowl.
- 42 min
Heat the wok over maximum flame until smoking; add oil and immediately stir-fry the gizzards at ferocious heat for 60–90 seconds; remove and set aside — this is the first 'bao' (爆).
Watch outSear the first pass on a smoking-hot wok 60–90 seconds — fierce fast heat browns them before the tough gizzard tightens.
- 51 min
Return wok to maximum heat; stir-fry sliced ginger and garlic until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
- 62 min
Return gizzards to the wok with the prepared sauce; execute the second 'bao': stir-fry at maximum heat for another 45–60 seconds, tossing constantly until the sauce caramelises and clings to every piece.
Watch outThe second pass, toss on max heat until the sauce caramelizes and clings to every piece, 45–60 seconds — any longer and they turn rubbery.
- 71 min
Scatter sliced scallion and toss one final time; plate immediately and serve at once.
