Old Duck Casserole
A whole mature duck simmered for hours in a clay pot with cured ham, dried bamboo shoots and wine until the meat falls apart and the broth turns deep and clear.
How to eat it
The pot arrives at the table still bubbling and sits on a burner or a stand. Ladle broth into your own small bowl first and drink it plain; that is what the long cooking is for. Then pick pieces of duck out with chopsticks. The meat is on the bone, so expect to work around joints, and put bones on the side plate. The bamboo shoots and ham are eaten too. Most tables add a plate of greens or tofu to the pot near the end to cook in the remaining broth.
The story behind the dish
Ducks have been raised on the waterways around Hangzhou for as long as there has been a city, and a mature bird, tougher than a young one, needs long slow cooking to give up its flavour. The clay pot method, with salty cured ham and dried bamboo shoots to season the broth, is a home cooking tradition from the Zhejiang countryside that restaurants took up and made their own. In the 1990s and 2000s it became fashionable across the city and beyond, and chains built entire menus around it, which is why visitors find it sold as a Hangzhou speciality even though similar pots exist all over the region.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.
If you have an allergy or something you can't eat, check with the staff before you order.