Partridge (Chinese francolin)
A small farmed game bird (the Chinese francolin), cleaned whole and used one bird to a pot for double-boiled soups. Its flesh is finer and sweeter than chicken and gives a delicate, clear tonic broth. Traditionally the child-friendly bird, simmered with chuen bui and almonds, or with huai shan and chestnuts.
TCM properties
Nature · warming Flavour · sweet Meridians · spleen、stomach、lung
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy partridge is used to strengthen the spleen, open the appetite, transform phlegm and replenish the centre, traditionally simmered for children with poor appetite or lingering phlegm.
Cautions: read first
- Not suitable while you have a cold with fever
- Wild partridge is protected, so you must use farmed birds
Preparation
Clean the bird and blanch it (飛水); it is mostly used for double-boiled soups (燉湯).
Origin
Farmed in southern China (Guangdong); wild partridge is protected, so farmed birds must be used. Rare in Australian retail (game-bird suppliers only); quail is the usual local stand-in
Availability in Australia
Herbal shops / specialists