Sichuan Cuisine · FFET10250
Xiang su ya (fragrant crispy duck)
Xiang su ya is duck steamed until tender and then deep-fried, with crisp skin and soft meat, eaten with pepper salt, pancakes or flower rolls.
A white porcelain plate holds duck legs with crisp golden-brown skin and soft meat on brown oily sauce, with cassia bark, star anise, scallions, ginger and Sichuan peppercorns, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Sichuan and Chongqing, known for its wide range of flavour types.
Xiang su ya is duck rubbed with salt, wine, Sichuan pepper and spices, steamed until soft, and then deep-fried until the skin is crisp. It is a Sichuan specialty made throughout China, with the Sichuan version especially appealing. By 1977, it was established and included in an English-language cookbook, with crisp, aromatic skin and served with pancakes or flower rolls. No origin date, place or maker was found; 1977 shows that the dish was established by then, not when it began.
What
Xiang su ya is duck rubbed with salt, wine, Sichuan pepper and spices, steamed until soft and then deep-fried until the skin is crisp. It is eaten with pepper salt, or with pancakes or flower rolls.1,2,3
When
By 1977, xiang su ya was an established, well-known Sichuan specialty included in an English-language cookbook. No origin date or earlier text was found; 1977 is not its starting point.3
Where
Xiang su ya is a Sichuan dish documented in a 1977 cookbook and made throughout China. The Sichuan version is especially appealing. Its specific city of origin in Sichuan remains unidentified.1,2,3
How
The duck is rubbed with salt, wine, Sichuan pepper and spices, steamed for 40 to 75 minutes and then fried. A whole duck can be steamed for about 75 minutes and fried at about 190 degrees Celsius; duck legs can be steamed for 40 minutes and fried for about 1 minute per side at 200 degrees Celsius. Sichuan tea-smoked duck is a separate dish: the method recorded in 2015 involves curing, smoking, steaming for about 2 hours and then frying.1,2,4
Why
Steaming and then frying gives tender meat under a crackling skin. The historical reason for this method remains unknown.1,2
Impact and influence
Xiang su ya is linked to Chinese New Year meals, with duck symbolizing fertility; this interpretation comes from a single blog.1,2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
A whole duck is awkward to steam at home, so I make this with duck legs: marinate, steam until done, dry, and fry until the skin is crisp. The amounts and method mainly follow a duck-leg recipe by a named author on a recipe blog: 40 minutes of steaming, about a minute of frying per side, and a pepper-salt dip. A recipe by another named author cooks a whole duck, and I give its figures in a tip. Both recipes fry the duck at 190 to 200 degrees Celsius. The amounts of white pepper, cassia, star anise, scallion and ginger, and the way I check that the steaming is done, are my own choices at home; the grams and milliliters are my conversions from cups and spoons.
Ingredients
- Duck legs 2 legs, about 400 g in all
- Salt, for the rub 1/4 teaspoon (about 1.5 g)
- White pepper 1/4 teaspoon
- Ground Sichuan pepper 1/2 teaspoon
- Shaoxing wine 2 teaspoons (10 ml)
- Cassia bark 1 small piece, about 3 cm
- Star anise 1 pod
- Scallions 2, cut in sections
- Ginger 3 slices
- Cooking oil, for frying about 480 ml, enough to come well up the legs
- Sichuan peppercorns, for the dip 1 teaspoon
- Salt, for the dip 3/4 teaspoon
Steps
- Pat the duck legs dry and rub them all over with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt, the white pepper, the ground Sichuan pepper and the wine. Leave them for 30 minutes.
- Lay the cassia, star anise, scallion and ginger on a heatproof plate, put the legs on top and set the plate in a steamer over boiling water. I steam them for about 40 minutes and check the thick part with a chopstick: the meat must be soft enough to come away from the bone easily, with no raw pink left. Top up with boiling water if the steamer runs low.
- Take the legs out and let them cool, discard the aromatics, and blot the skin completely dry with paper towels. Wet skin spits when it goes into hot oil.
- Toast the 1 teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan over low heat until fragrant, crush them and mix with the 3/4 teaspoon of salt to make the pepper salt.
- In a deep, narrow pot, heat the oil to about 200 degrees Celsius; without a thermometer, a dry chopstick should be ringed by a steady stream of small bubbles. With long tongs, lower the legs in skin side down, fry for about a minute, turn and fry about a minute more, until the skin is deep golden and crisp.
- Lift them out, drain, chop into pieces and serve with the pepper salt, or with pancakes or flower rolls.
Tips
- For a whole duck, follow the recipe by the other named author: rub it with salt, wine, Sichuan pepper, five-spice powder, ginger and scallion, rest it for 2 hours, steam for about 75 minutes, dry it, and fry it in oil at about 190 degrees Celsius for about 5 minutes per side. Legs are smaller, so I use the shorter times above.
- Dry the skin well before frying. This is my own habit: water makes hot oil spit, and at home I would rather blot once more.
Allergens: wheat