Peking Duck

pieces
  1. 1. The recipe
    1. 1.1. Ingredients
    2. 1.2. Steps
      1. 1.2.1. Day 1
      2. 1.2.2. Day X
    3. 1.3. Notes

An (on-going) experiment of Peking-style scrispy skin duck.

The recipe

This recipe is mainly based on The Ultimate Guide to Making Crispy, Amber-Hued Peking Duck at Home.

I have tried the recipe twice, once for a duck and the other time for a chicken.

Ingredients

  1. Lean duck
  2. Chinese five-spice powder (or DIY)
  3. Salt
  4. Soy sauce
  5. Maltose syrup
  6. Applewood (optional)

Steps

Day 1

  1. Clean the duck.
  2. Coat the inside of the duck with five-spice powder (f.s.) and seal the body with a stick.
  3. Separate the skin and the flesh of the duck.
  4. Add salt, f.s., and soy sauce to water and boil for 5 min.
  5. Poach the outside of the duck using the boiled water.
  6. Mix soysauce with maltose syrup and coat the duck.
  7. Now the duck has to be dried for a few days. It has to be somehow lift in the air, so that the extra sauce can drip down.

Day X

  1. Smoke the duck inside a sealed container using the applewood for 30 min. I skipped this step as I could not find applewood.
  2. Roast the duck by the following steps: (1) Roast for 30 min at 350F and hang for 5 min to remove fat; (2) Roast again for 30 min until the core temperature reaches 130F.
  3. Bath the duck with hot oil at 390F until it is golden.

Notes

  1. In the video guide, a pump was used to blow the duck, which was very efficient. However, it is possible to manually separate the skin and the flesh - just be careful.
  2. Make sure the wings and legs do not touch the body during the drying process.
  3. In my experiment, the drying process was only one day. As a result, the skin of the final product was not so crispy.
  4. The roast process depends on how fat the duck is. In the experiment, the duck was quite fat. As a result, the duck was hung at a higher frequency to remove the extra fat and oil.
  5. To disassemble the duck, consider first remove the drum stick, then peel the skin off on the back, then cut through the legs, and finally cut out the breast.
  6. The purpose of the maltose syrup is to provide a thick sauce base that can be applied onto the duck without dripping down too quickly. Moreover, the sugar in the syrup contributes significantly to the smell in the final product. When maltose syrup is not available, one can try to concentrate off-the-shelf pancake syrup: Boil the syrup for a few seconds and let it cool down slowly. Do not boil for too long time, otherwise the syrup would solidify.
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