A white porcelain plate holds whole duck in glossy brown sauce with sticky rice, lotus seeds, sausage, chicken, bamboo shoots, shiitake, shrimp and orange-yellow salted yolk, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The benbang and Haipai cooking of Shanghai, rich and dark-sauced, drawing on flavours from many places.
Ba bao ya is a duck filled with glutinous rice and fillings such as mushroom, bamboo shoot, ham and lotus seed and then steamed or braised; it belongs to Shanghai local cuisine and is made in both Shanghai and Guangdong. No dated record of the dish under this name was found; the Qing text Suiyuan Shidan has an entry on steamed duck filled with glutinous rice, ham and pickled vegetables and steamed in chicken broth, a related dish that is not called eight treasure duck, and the passage read gives no year. Accounts of the Cantonese form as a Hong Kong banquet dish in the 1930s and a New Year’s Eve dish come second-hand from reports.
What
Ba bao ya is a duck filled with glutinous rice and fillings such as mushroom, bamboo shoot, ham, pork, shrimp and lotus seed and steamed for hours. Some versions bone the duck; a Beijing-style version ties a boned duck into a gourd shape.1,4
When
No dated record under the name ba bao ya was found. The Qing text Suiyuan Shidan has an entry on steamed duck, a boned duck filled with glutinous rice, ham and pickled vegetables and steamed in chicken broth, which resembles eight treasure duck but has a different name; the passage read gives no year. The account of the Cantonese form as a Hong Kong banquet dish in the 1930s comes second-hand from a 2021 report.2,3
Where
Ba bao ya belongs to Shanghai local cuisine, while the Lin Zexu tale is set in Suzhou. Shanghai and Guangdong each have a version, and Beijing-style versions include gourd duck.1,2,4
How
The 3 recipes differ. One blanches and dries the duck, rubs it with soy sauce, five-spice, salt, rice wine and sesame oil and chills it overnight; the filling is glutinous rice, taro, Chinese yam, chestnuts, lotus seeds, lily bulb, red dates, shiitake, dried scallops and Chinese sausage; the cavity is filled and the duck braised in a clay pot in chicken stock with oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and rock sugar for about 75 minutes. A Cantonese-style version cooks 250 g of glutinous rice and 30 g of lotus seeds to about 80% done, mixes in stir-fried sausage or pork, chicken, bamboo shoot, shiitake, shrimp, carrot and salted egg yolk, fills the duck, scalds it with boiling water, brushes it with soy sauce and steams it for 1.5 to 2 hours. A Beijing-style version bones and marinates the duck, fills it, ties it into a gourd, deep-fries it and steams it for about 3 hours.4,5,6
Why
The available material does not explain why the dish is made. A 2018 report identifies the Cantonese version as a New Year’s Eve dish.2
Impact and influence
The dish has different versions in Shanghai, Guangdong and Beijing. The Cantonese version is both a Hong Kong banquet dish and a New Year’s Eve dish.1,2,4
Legend has it that when Lin Zexu was serving in Jiangsu he disguised himself as a rich merchant. On a boat he asked about a boneless duck dish, and the boatman named it Suzhou’s boneless eight treasure duck. Lin joked that “bone” sounds like “country,” the boatman realized who he was, and the tale spread.
Told in: A folk tale told in the Chinese Wikipedia entry on eight treasure duck, set in Suzhou and undated; the entry itself carries a notice that it lacks sources.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the eight treasure duck I make at home, steamed, with the bones left in and the filling packed into the cavity. The filling and the steaming time follow a recipe from a source that names no individual author, in Cantonese style; the rub for the duck follows a signed recipe whose author braises the duck in a clay pot instead. The two recipes give different times (steaming 1.5 to 2 hours, braising about 75 minutes), so I judge doneness myself and say how I check. The amounts of light soy sauce and sugar are not given in either recipe and are my own choices.
Ingredients
Duck 1 duck, about 2 kg
Dark soy sauce (for the rub) 1 teaspoon
Five-spice powder (for the rub) 1 teaspoon
Salt (for the rub) 1 teaspoon
Shaoxing rice wine (for the rub) 1 tablespoon
Toasted sesame oil (for the rub) 1/2 tablespoon
Glutinous rice 250 g, cooked until about 80% done
Lotus seeds 30 g, cooked with the rice
Chinese sausage or pork 100 g, diced
Chicken 100 g, diced
Bamboo shoot 30 g, diced
Shiitake mushrooms 30 g, diced
Shrimp 30 g, diced
Carrot 30 g, diced
Salted egg yolks 2, chopped
Light soy sauce and sugar a little of each, my own choice
Dark soy sauce (to brush the skin) as needed
Steps
The day before: scald the duck briefly in boiling water, dry it, rub it with the rub and chill it overnight.
Cook the glutinous rice and lotus seeds together until about 80% done (the recipe says cook; I steam them).
Dice the sausage (or pork), chicken, bamboo shoot, shiitake, shrimp and carrot, stir-fry them until the meat and shrimp are cooked through, season with a little light soy sauce and sugar, and mix with the rice and lotus seeds, then mix in the salted egg yolk.
Fill the cavity with the filling, close the opening with toothpicks or string, and brush the skin with dark soy sauce.
Set the duck on a heatproof plate and steam it about 2 hours (the recipe says 1.5 to 2), adding boiling water to the steamer if it runs low.
Before taking it out I prick the thick part of the thigh: it should be tender, the juices should run clear with no pink, and the filling should be hot all through.
Tips
The signed recipe does not steam: it braises the duck in a clay pot with chicken stock, oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, dark soy sauce and rock sugar, about 45 minutes, then turns it and braises about 30 minutes more.
I keep the juices that collect on the plate and spoon them over rice; this is my own habit.
