Chinese Roasted and Braised Duck
6 serving
Ingredients
- 5 lb. Duck, whole, innards and tail removed, patted dry
- 1 Tbsp. Oil
- 2 in. Ginger, sliced
- 1 Tbsp. Rock Sugar
- 6 clove Garlic, peeled, crushed
- 1/2 c. Shaoxing Wine
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Chinese Dark Soy Sauce
- 1/4 c. Chinese Light Soy Sauce
- 3 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
- 3 Star Anise
- 6 Cloves
- 3 Bay Leaves
- 12 Black Peppercorns
- 5 pc. Dried Orange Peel
- 4 c. Water, as needed
- 1 tsp. Honey, thinned with 1 tbsp. warm water
Instructions
Instructions
1.
Heat oil in a wok over medium heat, swirling to coat. Place the duck breast-side down in the wok and let cook undisturbed until the skin is beginning to brown and crisp slightly. While frying, spoon the oil over top. Additional fat will render, leaving much more oil in the pan than you started with. Turn off the heat.
2.
In a large pot over medium heat, add 1 Tbsp. of fat from the wok. Add the ginger and garlic and fry briefly. Add sugar and stir until melted.
3.
Add shaoxing, soy sauces, vinegar, anise, clove, bay, peppercorns, orange peel, 3 cups of water, and the duck. The liquid should come about half way up the duck; add additional water as needed.
4.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, flipping duck every 15 minutes. Just before an hour has elapsed, preheat the oven to 425.F.
5.
Remove duck from braising liquid, carefully draining cavity, and place breast-side up on a rack placed inside of a roasting pan. Brush the duck all over with the honey water.
6.
Roast duck until skin is crisp.
While duck is roasting, reduce the braising liquid to make a sauce.
8.
Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve with braising sauce to dip.
Made with regular soy sauce (added 1/2 tsp. sugar to account for sweetness of dark soy sauce); used 1/4 c. shaoxing, and 1/4 c. sake; used regular granulated sugar instead of rock sugar. Forgot to add the honey-water wash before roasting, but added it on in the last five minutes of roasting time. The duck was pretty good, but not that remarkable. The skin didn't crisp up as much as I expected, but the meat was still nice and moist, if not a bit underwhelming in flavor. I think additional sugar in the sauce or adding the honey wash when I was supposed to would have improved this. If I make it again I will be at least doubling the amount of sugar in the braise.