Duck blood and vermicelli soup () is a traditional delicacy of

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, capital of

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

province, and is also eaten in other regions of China. A similar dish is eaten in Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania, where it's called ''

czernina Czernina (pronounced: , from ''czarny'' --- "black"; sometimes also ''czarnina'' or ''czarna polewka --- black soup'', or even "gray borscht", ''barszcz szary'') is a Polish soup made of duck blood and clear poultry broth. Sometimes known as "d ...

''.

Legend

Duck blood and

vermicelli Vermicelli (; , , also , ) is a traditional type of pasta round in section similar to spaghetti. In English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, while in Italy it is typically thicker. The term ''vermicelli'' is also used to ...

soup is a traditional delicacy in

. It is said that once there was a poor man in Nanjing. He killed a duck and used a bowl to hold the duck's blood, but accidentally dropped some vermicelli into the bowl. He cooked them together and surprisingly found that the soup was delicious. A rich man heard the story and employed the poor man to cook the dish for his family. The soup has been popular ever since.南京鸭血粉丝汤
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Ingredients

Xiaolongbao & Duck blood and vermicelli soup

Duck blood, vermicelli, dried fried

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...

, dried small shrimp, duck gizzards, duck intestines, duck livers,

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the d ...

s, ginger, sesame oil, caraway, (and possibly some other ingredients) are used to make the soup. Authentic duck blood and vermicelli soup is cooked with more than twenty

Chinese herbal medicine Chinese herbology () is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A ''Nature'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that t ...

s. Some of those who prepare it this way believe that these ingredients promote blood circulation, remove toxins and maintain beauty, as well as aiding digestion and warming the stomach."补血、清热解毒的不二的美食选择鸭血粉丝汤"
Accessed November 2011. The main ingredient, vermicelli, is made of sweet potato. It is smooth, soft, waxy and tasty. Other key ingredients are duck blood, dried fried tofu, dried small shrimps, duck gizzards, duck intestines, and duck livers. Furthermore, salt, shallots, gingers, sesame oil and caraway make this delicacy tastier. The soup coupled with various ingredients has visual appeal and is aromatic and flavorful.

Legend

Ingredients

See also

References

Further reading