Szechuan Crunchy Duck

[Franci]

Hi there.

Today I attempted my first Szechuan Duck and it was good for the taste but the presentation and the skin far from ideal.

I consulted Barbara Tropp and Irene Kuo. The recipes are the same, although Irene Kuo doesn't mention the duck air drying after steamining.

I do not have access to a Chinese market so I relied on a French canette, that if I'm not mistaken is a female duck (?), the weight was just below 2 kilos. I marinated it for 2 days, then steamed for 3 hours and let dry on a rack for 3 hours. Unfortunately, I don't have a fan.

My wok was not big enough to accomodate the duck so I had to fry it in a big pot.

The duck was so tender, that I was afraid it would fall apart in the oil, but it didn't. The duck lost a leg when I tried to flip it over on the breast side.

I didn't even attempt to fry a second time.

The taste was good. But the skin, expecially on the breast side was not crispy and the duck was very very fragile.

After 2 hours of steaming the duck was already tender, but after the last hour of steaming I still found a good amount of fat and liquid in the steaming bowl, so likely it was necessary to render more fat. I guess a Pekin duck doesn't have so much fat but what about the cooking time? Irene Kuo says that the long steaming is necessary otherwise the inside will not be juicy and the skin not crunchy enough...

I consulted also A. Nguyen here and she steamed the duck for 2 hours.

Any experience with this preparation?

Thanks

[sheetz]

Sorry, I was going to recommend the blog you looked at. Try that and cut the duck in half. That should make it much easier to fry.

Edited September 23, 2010 by sheetz (log)

[hzrt8w]

.....

I guess a Pekin duck doesn't have so much fat but what about the cooking time?

.....

I don't think that is quite the case. Peking duck has as much fat as any other kind of ducks. Preparation-wise, Peking duck is blown up like a baloon so the skin is more expanded (gets thinner). Then grilled in giant ovens and the fat naturally melts and drains out. You may end up seeing less fat on the finished food.

[Franci]

Sorry, I was going to recommend the blog you looked at. Try that and cut the duck in half. That should make it much easier to fry.

Thank you Sheetz. I think next time I'll try that

Be

.....

I guess a Pekin duck doesn't have so much fat but what about the cooking time?

.....

I don't think that is quite the case. Peking duck has as much fat as any other kind of ducks.

Actually, I must correct myself. Muscovy is much leanear than Pekin and have bigger breast which leads to a higher meat per weight ratio.

I took A. Nguyen words for granted when she says in her blog that Muscovy duck has bigger breasts but it's fattier...I should have remembered better from my cooking school days.

[jo-mel]

It's been a while since I've done duck this way ---- a long while!

But I looked at my notes, and have a couple of ideas. One is to dust the duck with a coating of cornstarch before deep-frying. The other is 'double-deep frying' where you deep-fry for 5 minutes, lift the duck out, let the oil reheat and then put the duck back in and finish frying till crisp. My directions also had the steaming time from 1 to 1 1/2 hours only.

I use to put a large wooden spoon in the cavity to help turn the duck in the oil. It was handy for lifting it out, too.

[Franci]

Thanks Jo-mel. Hopefully I can give it another try this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S.:

Look how beautiful is this one here. I contacted this blogger and she did steam for 3 hours at very low heat, she said her duck was cooked but not as tender as in my case. Duck type or steaming? Or both?

I'll try to steam mine just until done.

[Franci]

Reporting my second attempt.

This time I bought a smaller duck, only 1.3 kilos. I steamed it for only 1 1/2 hours. It was cooked through but still firm. The skin was definitely not as soft and it was somewhat drier.

I followed A. Nguyen advice and cut in half and I used her recipe for a starch slurry to coat the duck before frying.

It definitely was firmer, strangely enough I found the first duck juicier and the I liked more the soy sauce coating with flour than the starch slurry. This time although I fried twice, didn't crisp as much but my parents and my husband loved it.

Mmmmhhh, I guess the trick is really in steaming it for the right time.

I'll try again in the future