Bohemian Roast Duck

My first interview with Kathryn Ryan on RNZ's Nine to Noon back in July, was on all things duck. Of course it was duck season. You can hear the interview here.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018799637/cooking-duck-with-jenny-garing

There are quite a few duck recipes on the RNZ website after my interview, but this one is one of our favourites. Peking Duck. I lived in China, near Beijing (Peking) and although vegetarian (mostly) I did end up eating this a few times. Now it is a family tradition to have it at Christmas as an entree. We change it up a bit though, by serving the duck with an Asian inspired salad in the pancakes.

Peking duck pancakes

Peking Duck

This recipe might look like a bit of a faff, but is actually very simple to do. It is just a matter of starting the day before to allow for drying time. You can buy the frozen pancakes for this dish in any good Asian supermarket. Just steam them before serving. If you are game, there are plenty of recipes online telling you how to make them, but it does require a bit of skill.

The key to Peking duck is totally drying the duck out before roasting so that the skin goes super crispy. When it is served in Beijing the platter of duck has a combination of slices of meat and many slices of crispy skin. The skin is the most coveted part.

There are also usually 3 courses to this dish in a restaurant, so that none of the duck is wasted. The meat and skin are served with the pancakes. The carcase is then made into a stock for a soup, and the bits of meat picked off the carcase are added to a stir-fried rice. Whenever we make it at home the carcase is used to make stock for congee which is topped with lots of ginger, sesame oil, coriander, peanuts and the meat stripped from the bones.

¼ cup dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar

2 spring onions, trimmed

1 cinnamon quill

2 star anise

1 inch piece of ginger, sliced

Rub:

2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine

3 tablespoons soya sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese 5-spice

2-2.5kg duck

To serve:

Store-bought mandarin pancakes

2 cucumbers, seeded and cut into strips

Small bunch spring onions, cut into thin strips

Hoisin sauce, to drizzle

Wash duck inside and out, then pat dry with paper towel. Use kitchen string to tie around the duck's wings so that it can hang.

Bring a large stockpot of water to the boil. Add soya sauce, ginger, spring onions, black vinegar, star anise and a cinnamon stick. Let it simmer for a few minutes to infuse. Drop the duck into the boiling water for 3 minutes. Take out and dry it off again. Set the uncovered duck aside to dry out overnight. We hang it from the clothes horse with a towel underneath to catch the drips, (you can face a fan onto the duck to speed up the process - the duck skin should feel like taut parchment when ready). In China they use a bicycle pump to pump air between the flesh and the skin!

Frankie guarding the drying duck

The next day preheat the oven to 240°C. Make a mix of 5-spice, soya sauce and shaoxing Chinese cooking wine. Rub this all over the duck. It is best if you can now stand the duck up to go in the oven, so that the fat drips down and out of the duck into the tray. You can use the beer can method (drink the beer first and fill it with water). Or just place the duck on a rack over an oven tray to catch the fat.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180°C and roast for a further 1 ¼ hours. Set duck aside for 10 minutes to rest before carving.

Carve the duck into thin slices. To serve, help yourself to a pancake, then place a slice of duck in the middle of the pancake. Add some cucumber and spring onion, drizzle with hoisin sauce, wrap and eat.