Gujing Roast Goose

Gujing Roast Goose

　　The roast goose from Gujing in Xinhui is extremely famous. Many visitors travel great distances just to taste this dish, which is made using a secret recipe from the Southern Song Dynasty imperial court.

　　Over seven hundred years ago, a pivotal sea battle took place at Yamen in Xinhui during the transition from the Song to the Yuan Dynasty. After the war, an imperial chef who specialized in making roast goose for the Southern Song court fled with his daughter to Xian Dong Village on the western shore of Yin Zhou Lake in Xinhui. The chef opened a roast goose shop in Xian Dong Village. With his exceptional imperial skills, he produced roast goose that was perfect in color, aroma, and taste, quickly gaining widespread fame. Later, when the chef’s daughter grew up and married into Gujing Town on the eastern shore of Yin Zhou Lake, she brought her father’s secret roast goose recipe to Gujing, where it has been passed down through generations. This is how Gujing Roast Goose came to be.

　　The making of Gujing roast goose is unique, with great care taken in selecting the geese and in the roasting process. Geese are raised in two seasons each year. The breed commonly used for Gujing roast goose comes from goslings hatched around one and a half months before the Qingming Festival in spring or the Chongyang Festival in autumn. These geese are raised in local fish ponds until they are three to four months old and weigh about 7 jin (approximately 3.5 kg). (Note: the geese must not be raised too large, as overly big ones result in tougher meat that lacks tenderness.) This breed is called “Wu Zong Goose” (Black Mane Goose), which is unpolluted and has the best meat quality. When roasting, the goose is first coated with rice vinegar and left to dry. Then a traditional marinade made from light soy sauce, sugar, salt, wine, minced garlic, five-spice powder, and other closely guarded secret ingredients is stuffed inside the goose, which is then tied up and coated with maltose before being hung in a hot oven to roast. During roasting, even heat is crucial, and the fire must come from lychee wood—this imparts a distinctive lychee aroma to the roasted goose.

　　 The exceptional taste of Gujing roast goose lies in the secrets behind its preparation, particularly the roasting process. First, there’s the choice of goose. The Wu Zong Goose has a distinctive black mane-like stripe of down running from the top of its head along its neck to its body, and is known for its “three blacks (black beak, black feathers, black feet), three slendernesses (slender head, slender neck, slender bones), and one shortness (short legs).” Its meat is firm and its weight is moderate—those that grow too large do not taste as good. Next is the choice of fuel. According to local wisdom in Xinhui, cooking with citrus wood or cooking rice or dog meat in an earthenware pot yields a uniquely fragrant result; braised field mice cooked with lychee wood are especially delicious. For Gujing roast goose, the roasting must be done over an open flame using lychee wood. Some chefs have tried using citrus wood, which is decent but slightly inferior. Lychee wood is fire-resistant, produces little smoke and resin, helping maintain a constant temperature in the oven, prevents the goose from absorbing smoky flavors, and gives the final product a shiny appearance with a delicate lychee aroma. To fully bring out the qualities of lychee wood, it must be thoroughly sun-dried, evenly split, and added at the right time. Of course, mastering the heat requires secret techniques known only to the chefs. Then there’s the special roasting marinade, which includes ingredients such as sesame oil, traditional light soy sauce, sugar, salt, wine, minced garlic, five-spice powder, Fenjiu (a type of Chinese liquor), cinnamon, fennel, dried tangerine peel from Xinhui, and other closely guarded secret ingredients, all mixed in precise proportions. To ensure a crispy skin, a freezing process is applied midway through production—roast, cool, then roast again.

　　 Is it true that “Gujing Roast Goose” originated in the Song Dynasty and has been “roasted” for 700 years? This folk legend currently lacks sufficient historical documentation for verification. However, it is certain that the roasting techniques of Gujing roast goose have been passed down through family generations. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there were several roast meat shops in Gujing Market, including Heng Yi, Qi Xiang Lou (run by Li Guang), Jing Ji, Ming Ji, He Yi Shi, and San Ge Chao from Cixi Township. Typically, the shop owners were also the chefs. In 1956, during the public-private partnership movement, these were merged into the Gujing Food Station, which operated as a unified business. Due to prolonged economic hardship and low purchasing power among the populace, very little roast goose was produced—even most locals rarely had the chance to eat it. After the reform and opening-up period, as the market economy flourished and living standards improved, people became more interested in good food and drink, leading to rising acclaim for Gujing roast goose. The historic brand “Heng Yi” was also revived. According to the “Lü Family Genealogy” revised by Lü Ya Fu at Heng Yi Store in 1951, the founder of Heng Yi, Lü Ya Fu (courtesy name Chuan Ying), was born in 1891. In his prime, after marrying Ms. Zhao, he opened a meat stall at Tian Cheng Market in Gujing (at that time, roast meat shops processed and sold roasted meats and cured products, not just roast goose). It is understood that Lü Ya Fu began his business around the 1920s. He later passed it on to his second son, Lü Bai (born 1937), who then passed it to his five sons. Today, their family has become known as a “roast goose lineage.” The fourth son, Lü Cheng Yao, was nicknamed “Goose Head” since elementary school because he learned excellent roasting skills from a young age—nowadays, many people know him by his nickname rather than his real name. The younger generation of the Lü family, the grandsons of Lü Bai, are also learning and carrying on the craft. This “roast goose lineage” now operates nine branches in Gujing and Huicheng, plus one flagship store. Aside from these ten locations, they also supply roast goose to eight or nine out of ten restaurants and food stalls in Gujing Town. To ensure consistent quality, all roasting is done centrally at the flagship store, and the goose is kept warm and transported to each branch. This long-established brand has adopted modern business concepts and follows contemporary food safety standards, having initiated “food safety certification.” In early 2003, they had plans to set up a processing point in Hong Kong, but these were put on hold due to the SARS outbreak. Another well-known brand of Gujing roast goose is “Ping Xiang.” Its founder, Zhao Hua Xiang (born 1918), used to travel to rural areas to provide mobile roast goose services for wedding banquets before the founding of the PRC. He would carry a complete set of roast goose tools on a wooden pushcart. In October 1979, he and his son Zhao Luo Wen established the “Ping Xiang Roast Goose” shop. Later, Zhao Luo Wen passed the business on to his son-in-law Zhao Shao Rong and other descendants. As the brand gained fame, multiple branches were opened near the Yamen Bridge and along Huicheng Central South Road.