Post by captaincook on Jun 17, 2014 8:26:48 GMT 10
Peking Style Duck
This recipe has been adapted and developed to cook on a Weber Q or Weber Kettle BBQ. It encompasses the elements of the typical ancient recipe for Peking Duck with ingredients that are available and methods that are easy for most people to use at home. Whilst this recipe has been adapted for use on a Weber BBQ it can also be adapted by the user to work equally as well in a different BBQ or oven. But let's face it the Weber cooks the best.
1 fresh Duck 1.8 – 2.2 Kg (the bigger the better)
2 ½- 3 Tbsp Honey
1 ½ Litres of water
2 Tbsp Shaoxing wine (sweet sherry as a substitute but if you are going to do more Chinese cooking then invest in a bottle of Shaoxing
1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
½ Tbsp Light Soy Sauce (no more than ¾ as the duck will become too salty)
3 Tbsp corn flour
1. If possible pull the skin away from the neck of the duck and then blow the duck up from the neck like a balloon to loosen the skin from the flesh. Cut off the wing tips at the first joint and discard. Rinse the duck thoroughly, drain and pat dry.
2 Put the 1 ½ litres of water into a large deep tray or wok that the duck will fit into, add the honey and bring to the boil, add the Shaoxing wine, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce and bring back to the boil. Mix the corn flour with about 1/3 cup of cold water and create a slurry. Add the slurry to the boiling mixture and bring back to a rapid boil.
3. Take the mixture off the heat. Gently place the duck, breast side up, in the boiling mixture and gently spoon the mixture over the duck ensuring that you give it a good coating. Continue doing this for about 5 -8 minutes. The thicker the coating the better the end result. Place on a cooling rack and let the duck drain and air dry for 6-8 hours. You can aid the drying by using a small fan to blow over the duck for 6 hours, this also keeps any flies away. The drying for this long helps the skin to shrink and you get a crispy skin when cooking.
4. Preheat the Weber Q for 10 minutes on high. Set the Q up for indirect cooking using the foil and roasting trivet method. Set the gas control at 3-4 strokes below high or on 1-2 strokes below high on the Baby Q. This should give you a lid temperature of about 190C (375F).
5. Wipe the trivet with a piece of paper towel dipped in vegetable/canola oil to stop the duck skin sticking, place the duck breast side upon the trivet and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes flip the duck and cook breast side down for about 30 - 45 minutes. (1.8 kg duck for 30 minutes and 2.2 kg duck or larger for 45 minutes). Flip the duck and finish cooking breast side up for a further 30 minutes. Remove and loosely tent with foil with an air hole in it about 40 mm diameter for 15 minutes to rest the duck.
6. In a Weber Kettle. Light 22 heat beads per side and allow them to ash over. Move the charcoal baskets apart and place an empty foil drip pan in the middle between the charcoal baskets. Place the cooking grill on it’s support lugs and put the lid on making sure that both the top and bottom vents are completely open. Preheat for 10 minutes. Wipe the cooking grill with a piece of paper towel dipped in vegetable/canola oil to stop the duck skin sticking, Place the duck in the middle of the grill above the foil drip tray and cook as above. If you have a lid temperature gauge you are shooting for a lid temp of 375F.
Char Sui Style Sauce
A great sauce to have with this duck is my Char Sui style sauce
This sauce is based on a sauce that I had at my favourite restaurant in Nanjing. It is as close as I can get using readily available ingredients. When you make the sauce you should make enough to bottle as I found that most of the people that have some want to eat it on everything including dry bread rolls. It is great for Peking Duck and is also good cold with sausages.
2 parts Hoi Sin Paste (you can use the Hoi Sin sauce as a substitute)
1 part honey
1 part rice wine vinegar (I prefer it with 1 ½ parts)
1 part light soy sauce
1/2 part water
1. Maintain the mixing ratio of the sauce and use whatever size measure you like: Cup, Tablespoon(s) etc.
2. Add all the ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes stirring regularly. Remove and pour into a serving jug. Sauce may be served hot warm or cold.
Thin slices of this duck, julienned cucumber, spring onions and the Char Sui style sauce can be wrapped in Chinese pancakes to make a version of Peking Duck.
