湘西土匪鸭 Western Hunan Bandit Duck

Pinyin: xiāng xī tǔ fěi yā

Anethol is the main chemical compound found in anise and Chinese star anise that give the two spices their distinct flavor even though the two spices are biologically unrelated. Star anise comes from an evergreen tree found in southwest China that is a member of the Mangolia family while anise is a flowering annual found in the Mediterranean.

Anise has the honor of flavoring licorice, Italian Sambuca, German Jagermeister, Greek Ouzo, “Black Jack” gum, and French Absinthe. While star anise is one of the key components in Chinese Five Spice powder and is used in Vietnamese Pho noodles and several Indian curry dishes.

Due to cost anise has largely disappeared from kitchen shelves and has been replaced with the much cheaper to produce but no less flavorful Chinese star anise.

In Chinese traditional medicine star anise is used as a digestive aid and tea brewed from star anise can be used to treat rheumatism.

More recently star anise has been found to contain shikimic acid which is one of the key ingredients necessary in the manufacturing of Tamiflu which can be used to treat both bird flu and swine flu. This has caused significant price increases and even shortages of star anise.

In Chinese cuisine star anise is used in many slow cooked dishes and is a popular spice in northern China.

Western Hunan Bandit Duck is a common dish that can be found at Hunan restaurants around China and star anise plays a prominent role in flavoring the dish. This dish is spicy and the anise flavor works with the spiciness to add riveting dynamics. You may also notice that several kinds of peppers are used, spring onions have been added, and a substantial number of garlic cloves also make an appearance.

The actual duck was likely prepared the day before. It was marinated in a variety of spices including star anise and was then slow cooked for hours. The duck meat had plenty of opportunity to absorb the spices and take on a nice brown color that penetrated even the bones.

Once we ordered the dish the chef went to work heating the duck which is when the garlic, peppers, and spring onions were added. The dish was slowly heated again and was the last thing to arrive on the table. At this point the garlic cloves were cooked to be mild enough to eat but weren’t cooked to the point of being mushy.

The flavors in this dish were nice and the garlic cloves were cooked to perfection. Sadly, there are two main hang-ups I have with this dish. First the duck had a lot of bones that were cut into pieces making them challenging to avoid. My second problem with this dish is that the duck meat was coated in a thick layer of fatty skin.

This dish is worth a try, but know what you are getting when you order it. There isn’t nearly as much meat available as one might hope for and it takes a little time to extract the bones and separate the fat from meat. In China eating is an adventure, so take every opportunity and enjoy the experience.