One of my first attempts to make this duck was in Tijuana, Baja California- I had a much larger installation, a separate room to do my machinations in (ok, the laundry room area where I could hang the duck to dry as long as I wanted to and it was a closed place so no attacks from insects or kitty), over the years my kitchen has changed from really fancy to modest to darn near small and incredible anything gets done and now to small and the weather question. I'm also living in an Airbnb which leaves me handicapped as to the equipment I have to work with (which is why it's a valuable project to undertake, I have none of my professional cooking tools) plus I'm living in Merida, Yucatan which is humidity PLUS area of the country, in short the tropics so getting the duck to dry has been a challenge to say the least! But onward we go....
So anyway, I found the regular long recipe but then he thought the same thing as I did (great minds think alike, lol) and experimented with a shortcut version to Peking Duck which is the one I am trying today- shorter time, quick and dirty.... so we'll see how this one turns out under humid weather.
Right off the bat I realized the duck could not be hung to dry, I've got a laundry room I could use but there's some Chiles de Arbol drying there for a week and no drying at all due to the humidity so it wouldn't work for the duck. I had to leave it in the fridge for 3 days to even dry a little... so pay attention to the humidity in your area. Go by the way the skin on the duck is drying, it has to get dry like leather.
ONE MORE THING: Under no circumstances THROW AWAY THE CARCASS / BONES of the duck. Try to leave some meat on the bones if you can since this will tenderize more and fall off the bone giving the soup the benefit of the meat or simply save the duck back for the soup, it's definitely worth it. I will show you how to use it, as DUCK NOODLE SOUP, so cover it up and refrigerate it or freeze.
Some observations from this latest attempt: Next time I will leave the duck for a much longer period in the fridge, needs more drying to get the skin totally crispy and while mine was super yummy it was more a roast duck with the flavor of Peking Duck which is totally not a bad thing just not the result I was aiming for, so again, pay attention to the humidity in your area and adjust accordingly. Everything else was wonderful. Costco has always carried the Canadian ducks in their stores, even here I'm happy to report and for the $294 MX (about $15US) they cost for the whole duck and two meals it's a bargain of quality meat.
Here's the recipe:
1 Duck, about 4 lbs. (Got mine at the local Costco, same brand as in the USA)
1/2 cup honey or maltose
2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbl Kosher salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 16oz can of beer, soda or ?
Pancakes:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup boiling water
1/4 cup sesame oil
Plum Sauce:
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup white vinegar
4 regular plums, cut in half and seed taken out
1 Tbl fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbl Chinese Chili Garlic Sauce
Serving:
1-2 bunches of scallions or green onions, cut off the dark green parts
1 cucumber, cut in half, take out the seeds
To Serve:
- 6 scallions, white and light green parts only, finely sliced lengthwise
- 1 small cucumber, seeded and cut into 4-inch long matchsticks
To begin:
Rinse the duck off. Dry it completely with paper towels. Put in baking pan on a rack and little by little, either using your fingers (like I did) or the handle of a wooden spoon, slip between the skin and the meat and begin separating the skin from the meat. Be careful not to make holes in the skin, start from the bottom cavity opening of the breast and inch your way up. You can also start on the top, go halfway and then meet your way from the bottom, whichever is easier for you. Try to slip your hand toward the thigh / leg area too. Take your time, sometimes if the duck is fresh or has not been dead a long time, there is a film between them and it can be pretty tight, just keep at it.
Combine the honey and soy sauce with 1 Tbl of water and warm up in a microwave for about 20 seconds and then mix well. Spoon, rub or paint all the surface of the duck, all the skin. In a small bowl combine the salt and baking powder and mix well. Sprinkle over all the surface of the duck.This will help with the drying and crisping of the skin.
Put the duck in the fridge, don't cover, at least 12 hours or as long as needed until the skin is like leather and dry. This is what you want. Once the duck is dry, take out the second rack out of your oven and place the one rack left at the lowest position to leave you room for the duck.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Put 4 quarts of water to boil on the stove, make sure it's a rolling boil. Put the duck in the sink over a rack so it can drain and once the water is really boiling, pour half of the water over the duck, really well and all over, then turn it over and do the same on the other side. You'll see the skin contract / shrink as the hot water hits it. This is what you want. Let the duck dry for 5 minutes.
Now get a baking dish or something with an edge on it to catch juices and or fat from the duck as it cooks, get your can of beer / soda or whatever and drink it up since you don't need the contents because it doesn't really add any flavor and now fill up the can all the way with water. Place the can in the middle of your baking pan and gingerly sit the duck down over the can so it sits squarely in your pan. Move the legs and / or break the tail to insure it will remain standing up since this will allow cooking all over. Now place it carefully in the oven and roast it for 30 minutes, rotate and cook another 30 minutes more, so 1 hour total. Then reduce the heat to 250F and roast for another 30 minutes or until the fat stops dripping from the cavity. If it's still dripping fat, leave it for an additional 30 minutes more. The duck should have a wonderful dark brown color. If you think it's getting too dark, tent some foil over the top and around the wing tips to prevent it from burning.
At this point, carefully remove the duck from the can and put it on a cutting board. Allow it to rest without cutting it for at least 10 minutes before you attempt to cut it up.
Take the scallions, cut in about 4 inch pieces and slice then very fine. Cut the cucumber in long, thin slices too. These will be inside the pancakes so use an appropriate size for a duck taco, ok?
MAKING THE PANCAKES.- Combine flour and boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon until you get them to come together. Put on a counter top with flour on it and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, for about 5 minutes. Cut the dough into about 24 pieces and cover with a damp towel.
Flour the surface and roll out the dough one piece at a time into a small circle, keep going and brush the first circle with the sesame oil before you put the second one on top and so forth. Or make larger balls to make larger pancakes, your choice. But the thinner the pancake, the better.
Get a heavy cast iron pan or griddle over medium-high heat and get it hot. Cook pancakes for about 1 minute and they have light brown spots. Flip and cook about 30 seconds more. Place in a clean towel and be sure you can peel them apart. Cover well with a towel to keep warm.
You can also buy flour tortillas at the store if you'd prefer or if you think this would be too much, it's cool, no judgments at all, I know I can go a little over at times.
MAKE THE PLUM SAUCE.- You can use Hoisin sauce too which you can get at most markets now. But if you've got fresh plums, put the sugar with 1 Tbl water in a heave pot over high heat and get the sugar to become a nice amber color, be careful and don't burn, it will take 3-4 minutes. Add all the vinegar right away which will make the sugar bubble, keep cooking for about 1 minute more and add plums, soy sauce, ginger, chili garlic sauce and reduce the heat to med-low and keep cooking while you smash the plums and they break down, about 10 minutes. Blend the sauce well in blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Place in a bowl to serve.
Now you can carve the duck, careful of the skin. Spread some plum sauce over a pancake, top with cucumber and scallion and then duck meat with some skin on top. Enjoy!
I hope you won't be put off by the long process, it's really not hard just takes a while but I definitely recommend making this for yourself if you love duck. I don't have a Chinatown nearby, like in Vegas where I would just go to the International Market and pick up a duck, no such luck here :-( .....
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