Duck Heads

When my friend Mark David Elliot, who writes a blog called LikeALocal.cn about Shanghai food, especially cheap eats and street food, called to suggest we do lunch on Shouning Road, my initial reaction was "uh, don't you know how much I hate Shanghai cuisine? Haven't I made myself clear?" [here. and here.]. But I'm also eager to be proven wrong, at least once, about Shanghai food. Mark has a lot of experience running around town checking out the real deal local food, so I agreed to meet him for lunch on Shouning Lu, which is known for small divey restaurants and street food vendors.



First we found a tiny place with a small display of oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops. These were already opened and left out on a tray sitting on the sidewalk in the sun (or lack there of, it's Shanghai after all). I found this disconcerting -- the raw meat was collecting dust and pollution and warm, dry air. Then a fellow stopped by on a bicycle and dumped a big bag of muddy mess right on the street in front of us, and hosed it off to reveal large oysters. I ordered one of these and had it placed, open face, right on top of hot coals. They covered it with a huge glop of raw minced garlic mixed with green herbs. This turned out to be reasonably toothsome, but it's not particularly Shanghainese food.



We then found a vendor who served us a deep-fried battered pork chop on top of two deep-fried rice cakes (actually like a 6-inch by 2-inch thick rice noodle). Topped with vinegar, this really reminded us of UK-style fish and chips, except for the absolutely nasty sweet brown gravy they added -- that's the Shanghai way -- I would ask them to hold it next time.



Then we spotted a few curbside woks ready for action. The vendors have a variety of noodles or rice, and a big selection of ingredients and sauces that you can order as you wish. We watched a few others order and knew what to do. I ordered a fried rice, and restrained the chef from adding anything sweet or syrupy, and held the powdered MSG to just a teaspoon. I also encouraged her to add extra chili spice. I could tell the chef was a little annoyed that I was micro-managing her cooking, but it was worth it. The fried rice was palatable, but unlike any I'd had in Shanghai, because I'd more or less put it together myself. The only thing I could not change is the quality of the ingredients, most importantly the cooking oil, which is, I believe, half of what's wrong with Shanghai food.



We also found a man dumping dry corn meal into a machine that pooped out a stream of puffed corn, with a little knife that spun around rapidly to cut the puff stream into little bite-sized nuggets. Tasted like parcel packing foam.



We'd given up on finding anything particularly "weird" on the street when we turned a corner and found a shop specializing in odd duck parts. We ordered a couple whole duck heads. They're just full, cooked, and lightly seasoned heads of duck, which are partially split in the center, so you can crack them open and dig out the inner bits like the brains and cartilage, and uh, whatever else exists inside a duck's head. We didn't get much to munch on inside, but the thin skin covering the head and bill was tasty, even if it required a lot of little nibbling and tearing with our front teeth. There were also duck tongues and webbed feet and other duck parts, but we've had most of the other stuff before. The duck heads, meh, the skin was tasty but a lot of work for very little to chew on. Still, we appreciate that these parts are not going to waste. Here's a few photos of us eating duck heads:

Odd duck parts; duck heads.

Buying duck heads.

Duck tries to escape, head first.

Eat the skin.

Crack the head.