Zhangcha Ya

Sichuan tea-smoked duck, marinated in Sichuan spices, cold-smoked over a mixture of jasmine tea, uncooked rice, and brown sugar until lacquered mahogany, then steamed to tenderness and fried to a shattering crisp skin

Origin: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

From the journey of Tea.

Zhangcha ya (樟茶鴨子, literally 'camphor-tea duck') is one of the great signature dishes of Sichuan cuisine, a preparation of extraordinary sensory layering that is considered one of China's classic cold-smoked preparations. The name refers to the traditional smoking mixture of camphor wood (zhang, 樟) and tea (cha, 茶), though modern restaurant versions more often use jasmine tea, rice, and brown sugar for the smoke, as camphor wood is controlled in China and its use restricted outside professional kitchens. The technique is intricate: the duck is first dry-rubbed with a Sichuan spice paste and left to cure, then cold-smoked in a wok to infuse the aromatic compounds of tea and sugar into the skin and surface fat, then steamed to cook through gently, and finally deep-fried in very hot oil to render the fat and shatter the skin to a mahogany crispness. The result is a flavour profile found nowhere else in the world: simultaneously smoky, spiced, crisp, yielding, and perfumed with the floral notes of the jasmine tea. The dish is associated with the old teahouse culture of Chengdu, where it was served as a formal banquet dish in the Qing dynasty era tea houses of the Brocade City, and it remains a centrepiece dish at Sichuan formal tables today. This is a weekend or celebration preparation: it rewards patience at every stage.

Ingredients

Duck

1 duck (approximately 2 kg), cleaned and dried thoroughly inside and out; a dry duck skin is essential for the smoking and final frying

Marinade

2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, toasted in a dry pan until fragrant, then ground
1 tsp five-spice powder
2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
2 cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Smoking Mixture

3 tbsp loose-leaf jasmine tea (or a mixture of jasmine tea and Dragon Well/Longjing green tea)
3 tbsp uncooked long-grain white rice
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp black tea leaves (for additional smoke depth)

Frying

vegetable oil or lard, for deep-frying (at least 1 litre)

To Serve

sliced spring onions, fresh ginger, and duck or hoisin sauce, to serve

Method

Combine the ground Sichuan peppercorns, five-spice, salt, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and grated ginger into a paste. Rub this mixture all over the duck, inside the cavity and outside over every surface of the skin. Place in a sealed bag or covered dish and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the duck from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Pat the skin dry once more with kitchen paper.
Line a large wok or deep roasting pan with two layers of foil, leaving enough overhang to fold up as a seal. Mix the jasmine tea, black tea, rice, and brown sugar together and spread evenly over the foil. Place a wire rack over the smoking mixture, high enough for the smoke to circulate around the duck.
Place the duck breast-side up on the rack. Cover the wok or pan tightly with its lid, folding the foil overhang up around the lid seal to trap the smoke. Place over high heat for 5 minutes until smoke is visible at the edges, then reduce to medium heat and smoke for 20 minutes.
Remove the duck from the smoker. Place the duck in a steamer basket over a large wok or pot of boiling water. Steam over high heat for 45–50 minutes until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced. Remove and allow to cool and dry completely on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes.
Heat the oil or lard to 190°C in a wok or deep pan. Carefully lower the duck into the oil using a large spider strainer. Fry for 8–10 minutes, basting the top with oil, until the skin is a deep mahogany and audibly crisp. Remove and rest for 5 minutes.
Chop the duck into serving pieces with a cleaver: remove the legs and wings, then split the breast lengthways and cut each half across into 4–5 pieces. Arrange on a plate. Serve with sliced spring onion, fresh ginger, and duck sauce or hoisin for dipping.

Notes

The three-stage cooking (smoking, steaming, frying) can be spread over two days: smoke and steam on day one, refrigerate the duck overnight (the skin will dry further and become even crisper when fried), then fry just before serving. This is how the dish is prepared for banquets. The jasmine tea smoking mixture is the most commonly available home version; if you can source dried camphor wood chips from a specialist Asian ingredients supplier, replace one tablespoon of rice with one tablespoon of camphor chips for the traditional flavour.

The Gastrographer

Name: Zhangcha Ya
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 1 duck (approximately 2 kg), cleaned and dried thoroughly inside and out; a dry duck skin is essential for the smoking and final frying; 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, toasted in a dry pan until fragrant, then ground; 1 tsp five-spice powder; 2 tsp coarse sea salt; 1 tsp dark soy sauce; 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine; 2 cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated; 3 tbsp loose-leaf jasmine tea (or a mixture of jasmine tea and Dragon Well/Longjing green tea); 3 tbsp uncooked long-grain white rice; 3 tbsp soft brown sugar; 1 tbsp black tea leaves (for additional smoke depth); vegetable oil or lard, for deep-frying (at least 1 litre); sliced spring onions, fresh ginger, and duck or hoisin sauce, to serve

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