Title: PEKING DUCK
Categories: Chinese, Poultry, Loo
Yield: 1 duck
Someone asked about Peking Duck. I've got two recipes
in my collection - one is too simple, the other too
long to post.
So I'll just describe what to do, very briefly. If you
want a good detailed recipe, check out Ken Hom's
Chinese Technique (Simon & Schuster, 1981).
1. Loosen the skin from the duck by massaging it,
pulling the skin away where possible.
2. Blanch the duck for a couple of minutes.
3. Hang it up to dry for 4 hours, then baste it with
sherry or with honey-water 1/2 and 1/2 mixture. Hang
it up again to dry for 4 hours.
4. Roast duck - one recipe says the other
says
30 min. at 375 15 min at
450
1 hour at 250 55 min at
350
30 min at 400 20 min at
450
The rationale for this I'm not sure of, but all
recipes claim that changing the oven temperature makes
a vast difference.
5. To serve - slice off skin and cut it into 1"x2"
pieces. Cut meat into similar-sized pieces. Provide 2"
scallion lengths (green and white part), hoisin sauce
(canned or bottled), pancakes (below). Each diner
rolls a bit of meat, a bit of skin, and a scallion
length into a pancake that has been spread with about
a teaspoon of hoisin sauce and eats the mess with
fingers.
Pancakes (adapted from Grace Zia Chu, Pleasures of
Chinese Cooking):
2 c flour, 1 c boiling water, 2 T dark sesame oil
Add water to flour in a bowl and work with a wooden
spoon into a dough. Knead 10 min. and let rest for 10
min.
Form into a long roll about 2" in diameter. Cut into
1/2" pieces and flatten to 1/4". Brush a little oil
over a piece of dough and lay another piece over it.
Roll out with rolling pin, slowly and from the center
out, until the piece is 4" or more in diameter.
Proceed until all dough is rolled out.
Heat ungreased griddle over low flame and add dough
circle. When it bubbles slightly, turn it over and
heat the other side. While it is still warm, pull
apart the two halves and fold at the center with the
greased side inside. Repeat with remaining dough
circles.
