百子櫃THE HUNDRED DRAWERS

Teal (small wild-type duck)

水鴨

nourishes yin補虛promotes water metabolism消腫

A small wild-type duck (teal), farmed for the table, cleaned whole with the fatty deposits removed. Leaner and finer-fleshed than ordinary duck, it double-boils into a light, clean-tasting soup that nourishes without heaviness. Classic with dried tangerine peel, sha shen and yuk juk.

TCM properties

Nature · cooling　Flavour · sweet　Meridians · spleen、stomach、kidney

Traditional food therapy

In Cantonese food therapy it is used to nourish yin, replenish deficiency and promote water metabolism, prized as a gentle tonic that suits those too weak for rich supplementation.

Cautions — read first

Go carefully if your spleen and stomach are weak and cold
Not for tonic use while a cold is still unresolved

Preparation

Clean the bird, strip out the fat under the skin and blanch it (飛水).

Origin

華南（廣東）家養供湯用 — Farmed teal not seen in AU retail; ordinary duck (~$13/kg frozen) is the practical local substitute

Availability in Australia

Herbal shops / specialists

Pairs well with

Aged dried tangerine peel Glehnia root Solomon's seal rhizome

Soups that use this ingredient · 1

Double-boiled teal with cordycepsNot yet surveyed (we say so honestly)

冬蟲草燉水鴨

moistens the lungssupports the kidneyssoothes cough3.5h slow fireWinter

百子櫃Cordyceps· 3 to 5 pieces百子櫃Teal (small wild-type duck)· 1百子櫃Dried fig· 2百子櫃Aged dried tangerine peel· a quarter piece街市Fresh ginger· 2 slices

“The pot she makes when someone needs looking after.”