Camphor-Tea Smoked Duck

🎯 Camphor-Tea Smoked Duck · Technique Matrix

Honest disclosure: this page previously carried a “no evidence found” annotation due to a gap in the source material. The manuscript The True Craft of China’s Sichuan Cuisine Masters (entry name “Camphor-Tea Smoked Duckling”) now supplies a complete recipe and method (see the “Standard Recipe” card below), including marinating time (8 hours in summer / 12 hours in winter), a 40-minute steaming step, and a full smoking-material ratio (tea leaves 20g, camphor leaves and sawdust 500g, cypress branches 250g, straw 250g) — a high-confidence match. The technique breakdown below still preserves the traditional-craft framework for reference; the manuscript’s seasoning amounts (salt, cooking wine, etc.) are marked “to taste” rather than precise gram amounts, and are faithfully conveyed as such.

⚠️ The four steps above are the traditional-craft framework for the Sichuan dish “Camphor-Tea Smoked Duck.” This page previously carried a “no evidence found” annotation due to a gap in the source material; the manuscript The True Craft of China’s Sichuan Cuisine Masters now supplies complete data: marinating roughly 8 hours (summer) / 12 hours (winter), steaming 40 minutes, and a smoking-material ratio of tea leaves 20g + camphor leaves and sawdust 500g + cypress branches 250g + straw 250g (see the manuscript-standard recipe card below). Most of the seasonings (salt, cooking wine, sugar, etc.) are marked “to taste” in the manuscript and are conveyed faithfully as such, without inventing precise gram amounts. Two externally confirmed historical threads still stand: ① one of the cold-plate dishes at the 1982 state banquet for Prince Sihanouk (“camphor-tea smoked duck breast”); ② Lee Kuan Yew’s review after tasting it in 1987.

📜 Lee Kuan Yew’s Own Words · A Singapore Review

“The aroma of the camphor-tea smoked duck is truly distinctive — crisp-skinned, tender-fleshed, with a wonderful texture that fully showcases the consummate skill of Sichuan cuisine.”

— Lee Kuan Yew’s own words (not Chen Songru’s), given after tasting the dish during a 1987 Singapore performance visit Independent corroboration · Corroborated in Liu Zihua’s writing that Lee Kuan Yew was indeed present and did taste the dish

🏆 Recorded Appearances

• 1982 Sihanouk state-banquet menu:
  “Camphor-tea smoked duck breast,” listed among the cold-plate dishes Independent corroboration

📝 Camphor-Tea Smoked Duck · Standard Recipe (Manuscript Version)

The ingredients and method below are compiled from the “V. Dish Methods” chapter of The True Craft of China’s Sichuan Cuisine Masters; the manuscript entry name is “Camphor-Tea Smoked Duckling,” which corresponds exactly to this page’s “Camphor-Tea Smoked Duck” — a high-confidence match. The recipe and method are condensed and conveyed faithfully, not copied verbatim in full. Sourced from The True Craft of China’s Sichuan Cuisine Masters

Smoking-material ratio, visualized (relative to camphor leaves and sawdust at 500g):

Bar lengths are proportional to gram amounts for illustration only.

💡 See the full procedure in the “Follow the Old Master” module — covering the four ordered, standardized steps of marinate–smoke–steam–fry, the smoking-material ratio (tea leaves 20g, camphor leaves and sawdust 500g, cypress branches 250g, straw 250g), and the key points of the double-frying technique, all drawn from the manuscript data in The True Craft of China’s Sichuan Cuisine Masters.