Yuan Mei´s Winged Tribe

Winged Tribe (Birds) 羽族單

雞功最巨，諸菜賴之。如善人積陰德而人不知。故令領羽族之首，而以他禽附之。作《羽族單》。

Chicken plays a substantial role in cuisine, and the success of most recipes is utterly dependent on it. The effect is similar to a virtuous person, who performs good deeds without the knowledge of others. For this reason, we will start with chicken and leave the other birds and poultry for the end. The following is a collection of winged tribe recipes.

White-Cut Chicken

肥雞白片，自是太羹元酒之味。尤宜于下鄉村、入旅店，烹飪不及之時，最為省便。煮時水不可多。

Good white-cut chicken embodies the pure flavors of the unadulterated stocks and extracts used by the ancients. Order this simple dish when one happens to dine at a village inn too busy to cook more involved dishes. When preparing this dish, do not use too much water.

Minced Chicken 雞松

肥雞一隻，用兩腿，去筋骨剁碎，不可傷皮，用雞蛋清、粉縴、松子肉同剁成塊。如腿不敷用，添脯子肉，切成方塊，用香油灼黃，起放缽頭內，加百花酒半斤、秋油一大杯、雞油一鐵勺，加冬笋、香蕈、薑、葱等。將所餘雞骨皮葢面，加水一大碗，下蒸籠蒸透，臨喫去之。

Take the legs of a plump chicken, remove their tendons and bones, then mince the meat finely. Be sure not to damage the skin. Mix the meat together with egg whites, starch thickening, and chopped pine nuts. If there is not enough leg meat, substitute with some cubed chicken breast meat. Fry the meat in sesame oil until golden brown and place it in an earthenware crock. To the crock, add half a jin of baihua liquor, a large cup of autumn sauce, [and] a ladle of chicken fat, along with the likes of winter bamboo shoots, shiitake, ginger, and green onions. Cover the mixture with the reserved chicken skin, add a large bowl of water, and steam it until done. Remove the chicken skin when serving.

Duck in Disarray鴨糊塗

用肥鴨，白煮八分熟，冷定去骨，拆成天然不方不圓之塊，下原場內煨，加鹽三錢、酒半斤，捶碎山藥，同下鍋作縴，臨煨爛時，再加薑末、香蕈、葱花。如要濃湯，加放粉縴。以芋代山藥亦妙。

Take a fat duck and boil it in water until 80 percent done. When cool, remove its bones and tear the meat in both natural, disorderly pieces, which are neither square nor round. Place the meat back into its cooking liquid than add three qian of salt, half a jin of jiu, and also coarsely crushed mountain yam together into the pot to thicken the dish. When the meat is braised tender, add finely chopped ginger, shiitake, and chopped green onion. If one wants an especially thick soup, add powdered starch. The dish is also very good if one substitutes the mountain yam with taro instead.

Yunlin Goose雲林鵝

倪«雲林集»中，載製鵝法。整鵝一隻，洗淨後，用鹽三錢擦其腹內，塞葱一帚，填實其中，外將蜜拌酒通身滿塗之，鍋中一大碗酒、一大碗水烝之，用竹箸架之，不使鵝身近水。竈內用山茅二束，緩緩燒盡為度。[1]俟鍋葢冷後，揭開鍋葢，將鵝翻身，仍將鍋葢封好烝之，再用茅柴一束，燒盡為度；柴俟其自盡，不可挑撥。鍋葢用綿紙糊封，逼燥裂縫，以水潤之。起鍋時，不但鵝爛如泥，湯亦鮮美。以此法製鴨，味美亦同。每茅柴一束，重一斤八兩。擦鹽時，串入葱、椒末子，以酒和勻。«雲林集»中，載食品甚多；只此一法，試之頗效，餘俱附會。

In [the poet] Ni Zan’s Yuan dynasty work, the Yunlin Compendium, he recorded a recipe for preparing geese. Take a whole goose, clean it, rub the inside of the body cavity with three qian of salt, and stuff with a large bundle of green onions such that the cavity is solidly filled. Cover the outside of the whole goose with a mixture of honey and jiu. In the pot, add a large bowl of jiu and a large bowl of water for steaming, and build a rack made of chopsticks to keep the goose elevated above the water. Use two bundles of mountain grass as fuel for the stove, allow it to slowly and completely burn away. Wait for the pot to cool down completely, then open the lid, flip the goose over to its other side, replace the lid, and seal it well for steaming. Use one bundle of grass and allow it to fully burn.

The fuel should be allowed to burn on its own without any disturbance by the chef. The lid should be well sealed with cotton paper. If the sealing paper dries and cracks during cooking, simply moisten it with water.

When it is ready to be served, the goose will be as soft as mud and its broth absolutely delectable. If duck is prepared using this technique, it will be just as delicious. Each bundle of the mountain grass used as fuel should weight one jin and eight liang. When one is rubbing the goose with salt, insert green onions, mix finely ground Sichuan pepper evenly with the jiu. The Yunlin Compendium contained numerous recipes, but after several trials this was the only good one; the rest of the recipes are simply false elaborations.

[1]     Shanmao 山茅literally translates to “mountain grass.” We know from the term mao 茅 that it is a tall wild grass with large woody sheaths and long blades that grows on hillsides. It could refer to any grass including sabai grass (Eulaliopsis binata), Cymbopogon distans, Scleria levis, or cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica), and likely many others.