Four special dishes

When people talk about the signature dishes of Quzhou, they refer to the four special dishes “three heads and one foot”-- heads of rabbit, duck and fish, and duck feet. The Quzhou rabbit head is among the 10 most popular dishes in Zhejiang Province. They are indispensable dishes in exclusive restaurants and food stalls.

It requires high skills in ingredients and heat control to cook the four dishes. The duck and rabbit heads and duck feet are smoldered in soup stock with seasonings, including fennel, orange peel, pepper, cinnamon and rice wine. The fish heads are steamed with diced hot red peppers or stewed with brown sauce.

Rabbit heads started to become a popular dish in the 1950s when life was hard. They bought the rabbit heads at very low prices and sold the bones when they finished eating. Then with that money they bought more heads to eat. It gradually became a custom for Quzhou people to eat duck heads, duck feet and fish heads.