Ilan's production of salted duck, or yashang in Chinese, is greatly helped by its natural environment. The abundant rainfall, fertile soil and warm climate of the Ilan plains make them the rice bowl of Taiwan. Before construction of the railway in 1920, Ilan was almost isolated from other parts of Taiwan.
This nature endowed land had long suffered from an over supply of foods - one of them being ducks - because of the ample feed supply in the paddies and along the Pacific coast.
The people of Ilan - looking to ways to preserve the over-plentiful ducks - salted and smoked them as one of the handy solutions. Salted duck can be kept year-round and served at dinner anytime one wishes. Nevertheless, they taste much better during the winter season and, therefore, have become a popular New Year gift.
Production of salted ducks is no longer a household business. Farm families now own refrigerators and do not need to always preserve fresh ducks by salting. This change stimulated the professional producers of yashang, who now cater the special product to many a nostalgic gourmet.
The Chang family, however, still carries on its household business. It continues to prepare yashang as New Year gifts for relatives and friends across the island. As many as 50 dressed ducks are often seen being dried on racks by the fresh sea winds. In the house, a few family members busily pack the finished product.
Ducks on the rack - sugarcane syrup turns to smoke adding new flavor. (File photo)
Chang Fu-nung, the only man in the group, apologizes to the visitors. "My hands are fully occupied, but my mouth is still at leisure. I am ready to answer any questions."
Chang tells the visitors, "The making of yashang is a traditional skill of my family, passed down from generation to generation. During my father's day, the demand was slow. But demand is always on the increase these years, and I have made it into a business." The major difference between yashang and other dried ducks is that yashang is smoked with sugar cane, Chang notes.
"After the ducks are dressed, they are seasoned with salt and spices. Then, 40 to 50 are stacked in a crate and sent to a freezer in Lotung Township."
"Why do you need to send the ducks to a freezer in such a faraway place?"
"That is because ducks for yashang are not always available. We must accumulate our stock," he says.
Only egg-laying ducks are good for making yashang. The present breed was introduced from the Chinese mainland, mainly for laying eggs. After laying ability declines, the duck is separated for making yashang.
The ducks are removed from the freezers and soaked in water for four hours to remove the ice and part of the salt. Then they are spread-eagled with bamboo sticks and dried in the sun for five to six hours. Smoking is the final step.
More than a hundred ducks are hung in a plywood or tin box containing three ovens filled with burning charcoal. Over the charcoal are two or three sections of sugar cane. When the syrup drops onto the charcoal it turns into smoke, adding a new taste and flavor to the ducks.
New sugar cane is added every 15 minutes and, at the same time, the ducks are checked to see whether the temperature is proper and the skin is golden in color.
Boning the meat strips. (File photo)
Some of the smoked ducks are packed for transportation to other cities. The remainder is stewed or steamed for about three minutes. The bones and bamboo sticks are removed before they are sold to eateries.
Taiwan's eateries do much of their business in the evening when people dine and drink after a day's work. Yashang is regarded as an ideal food to accompany a drink. The eateries develop their own seasonings to make the duck more delicious.
The period between September and mid-February is the business season for yashang producers. At present, an ordinary duck costs about NT$120 (about US$3.00), and a yashang brings NT$180 (about US$4.50). One yashang shop in Lotung reports that it now sells several thousand yashang a year. The owner of the shop is getting worried about future supply of ducks.
He suggests using ordinary ducks for making yashang. It takes a hundred days for a duck's laying ability to decline, but a meat duck can be marketed in 70 days. If meat duck can be used, the cost of yashang will be much reduced. The key problem still hasn't been solved: how to make the tender flesh of meat ducks as firm as a prime yashang duck to meet the exacting tastes of the traditional gourmet.