Tongguan Duck Slices Soup

Tongguan Duck Slices Soup

　　The so-called Duck Slices Soup is actually a stewed sliced tenderloin dish. It is said that the name of this Duck Slices Soup has an interesting backstory. Legend has it that during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi fled to Xi’an with Emperor Guangxu. Passing through Tongguan, local officials prepared a full Manchu-Han banquet, but Cixi was particularly fond of the local signature dish “sliced tenderloin,” saying that its flavor resembled the “duck slices” in the imperial cuisine. As a result, Tongguan’s stewed sliced tenderloin has since been named “Duck Slices Soup,” and remains to this day one of the region’s most famous dishes.