Eight-treasure duck (ba bao ya)
Photo: Lui Kungmens · CC BY-SA 3.0

History

The dish descends from a Qing dynasty precursor recorded as sticky rice duck, which developed around Suzhou in Jiangsu province before becoming part of Shanghai's banquet cooking. The name does not require exactly eight ingredients; fillings vary between chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, diced pork and chicken, mushrooms, ham, bamboo shoots, dried scallops and lotus seeds, and the constant is a whole duck encasing rice that soaks up its juices as it steams. Shanghai Old Restaurant, a guardian of the city's intangible cultural heritage cooking techniques, steams its duck whole for eight hours and serves it the next day once the flavours have settled overnight.

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Common allergens: Tree nuts, Shellfish

Make it at home

Yield Serves 6 to 8Hands-on 1 hrTotal 5 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1 whole duck, about 2kg, boned through the back
  • 200g glutinous rice, soaked for 4 hours
  • 50g chestnuts, cooked and halved
  • 30g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and diced
  • 50g ham, diced
  • 50g bamboo shoots, diced
  • 30g dried scallops, soaked and shredded
  • 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rock sugar
  • Kitchen string, for tying

Method

  1. Rub the boned duck inside and out with Shaoxing wine and a little salt, then leave it to marinate for 30 minutes.
  2. Steam the soaked glutinous rice for 15 minutes until just tender, then mix through the chestnuts, mushrooms, ham, bamboo shoots and scallops.
  3. Stir the light soy sauce and half the dark soy sauce through the rice filling.
  4. Pack the filling into the duck cavity and sew or tie the openings closed so the rice cannot escape.
  5. Set the duck breast side up in a heatproof bowl, and brush with the remaining dark soy sauce and rock sugar dissolved in a little hot water.
  6. Steam over a high simmer for at least 3 hours, topping up the water beneath as needed, until the duck is completely tender.
  7. Rest the duck for at least 30 minutes before slicing so the rice sets enough to hold its shape.

Tip from the editors. Brush on extra dark soy glaze halfway through steaming if the skin looks pale, or it will stay dull instead of glossy.

Where to eat eight-treasure duck (ba bao ya)

Eight-treasure duck (ba bao ya) in Shanghai

Lu Bo Lang ★ 4.0

¥¥ ShanghaineseOld City

Lu Bo Lang at Yu Garden in Shanghai holds a Bib Gourmand for Shanghainese dim sum such as turnip pastry and eyebrow pastry, at fair prices in the Old City.

OrderOrder the Shanghainese dim sum: turnip pastry, osmanthus glutinous rice cake and 'eyebrow' pastry.

TipPrivate rooms on the second and third floors take groups; a 2019 refit added wavy silver ceiling panels to the main room.

Directions

Shanghai Old Restaurant ★ 3.9

¥¥ ShanghaineseOld City

Shanghai Old Restaurant by Yuyuan Garden, founded in 1875, guards Shanghai heritage cooking techniques and steams its eight-treasure duck for eight hours.

OrderEight-treasure duck and the red-braised pork belly.

TipThe eight-treasure duck is steamed overnight and served the next day, so reserve it a day ahead.

Directions

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