Beautiful duck neck

Author: Shen Jialu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The duck's neck and beauty seem unrelated, but in today's era of gourmet food, their relationship has undergone subtle changes. In cartoon images, ducks are depicted as alluring. For example, in the movie Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, whenever a female duck appears, her typical image is: big eyes with long eyelashes, wearing a lace hat, and more stylishly, a delicate scarf tied around her slender neck. In local cartoons, the duck lady wears a bow tie. Similarly, that neck resembling a spoon handle is cleverly adorned. When spring blooms, a beautiful girl walks proudly on the street, her fair and slender neck adorned with a silk scarf. It's unsure whether the lady imitates the duck or if the cartoonist drew inspiration from the lady's packaging. According to global trends, a slender neck that reaches an adequate length, tilted back five to seven degrees, complemented by a pair of smooth, full shoulders, is a major sign of beauty. However, Asians are naturally born with thick, short necks. If a plump girl, lacking charm, insists on wearing a silk scarf to attract attention, the scene can be quite tragic—far away, she looks like a cooking cat. Thus, ladies who dislike their necks being too thick draw inspiration from an old Chinese saying: "You are what you eat." As a result, a fashionable snack was born—duck neck. Market intelligence reveals how duck neck is "cooked": the duck neck is skinned and cleaned, then boiled with red rice, cinnamon, fennel, dried chili peppers, and other seasonings in a large iron pot until fragrant. The aroma is so strong that it can be smelled from afar, and sweat drips from the chest. I don’t know who discovered it first, but white-collar workers in office buildings consider duck neck a treasure, buying it as if it’s free. In a blink, only a little broth remains at the bottom of the pot. If you want to eat, you have to wait until the next day. This snack is chopped into small sections, about an inch long, and easy to eat. As for the taste, I tried one given to me by a lady in the office. Skinned and boiled, the meat is indeed chewy and has a satisfying texture. It’s moderately salty and sweet, lightly spicy, and very appetizing. If you eat the meat, you can also suck the marrow from the joints, making a satisfying "squelch" sound. According to the older generation, duck neck is "live meat." Ducks constantly search for food, stretching their necks non-stop, so their muscle fibers are naturally strong, making it delicious. It is said that the most famous duck neck seller in Shanghai is a store from Wuhan. The store’s name resembles a martial arts academy, and after some "punching and kicking," it has opened several chain stores in Shanghai, offering home delivery with just a phone call. On the leisure street of Wujiang Road, just a stone’s throw from Nanjing West Road, there is also a store. They set up a stove and a pot on the roadside, and customers buy and leave without a sit-down meal, yet the business is still booming. Some duck neck sellers, unsure whether it’s too troublesome to chop them into small pieces or to give them a "martial arts" vibe, sell them by the piece. The ladies in the office take advantage of this and, holding a duck neck in one hand—even though their five fingers are already greasy and sticky—type on the computer keyboard with the other, producing flawless reports for their superiors. In the process, they unintentionally become a scene in Shanghai’s office buildings. There are also often a few young men surrounding the female foodies.