Pictorial: Stir-fried duck gizzard

[Kent Wang]

Pictorial Recipe

Duck gizzard stir-fried with bamboo and soy beans

I love hzrt8w's many pictorials, having photos really makes understanding the recipe so much easier. I can only hope that my pictorial will meet the high standard set by hzrt8w.

This is a dish that I learned from my mother. She was born in Shanghai but this dish is simple enough that it is not exclusive to any regional style. If you've never had gizzard before, it is similar to duck meat in flavor but has a tougher, chewier texture -- not rubbery, but a fun texture.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving Suggestion: 2-3

Preparations:

Main ingredients:

- 0.5 lb duck gizzard (pictured above)

- 0.5 cup bamboo strips

- 0.25 cup soy beans

- soy sauce

- Chinese cooking wine

- corn starch

- baking soda

- Chinese rice vinegar

- sesame oil

Trim the fat and slice into thin pieces. The goal is to approximate the shape and size of the bamboo strips, though you don't need to cut them that thin.

Marinate overnight in:

- 0.5 cup soy sauce

- .25 cup cooking wine

- 1 tbsp rice vinegar (pictured)

- 2 tbsp corn starch

- 1 pinch baking soda

After gizzards have been marinated, get your mis-en-place ready for the stir-frying.

Get bamboo strips and soy beans ready. Note that I like to use the wide strips of bamboo for this dish, not the thin ones.

Cooking Instructions:

Set stove to max. Heat oil in wok until it starts to smoke. I'm using duck fat here. Yes, that's a teflon-coated wok -- I haven't gotten around to getting a proper one yet.

Add the marinated duck gizzards and velvet them.

Cook until nicely browned. You really don't have to worry too much about overcooking the gizzards. After they're done, they won't really toughen up too much. I would take the opportunity to maximize browning without being too concerned with overcooking.

Another shot of the browning with flash on.

Add the bamboo and soy beans. Stir around a bit and cook for about a minute. The vegetables are not raw and so only need to be cooked long enough to be heated up. Turn off the heat, add 1 tbsp sesame oil and stir it around. I like adding sesame oil at the very end, exposed to just a short amount of heat, as it preserves its pugency.

Transfer to bowl and serve! Picture of the finished dish in natural light.

[hzrt8w]

That looks absolutely delicious, Kent! Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Edited October 13, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[JasonZ]

Agree ... marvelous photos ...

How easy is it to get duck gizzard? I've seen whole duck and duck legs/thighs, but not gizzard ...

[Kent Wang]

You'll have to go to a Chinese supermarket; I've never seen it at high-end Western supermarkets. It should be readily available in Philadelphia. You have a much better Chinatown than what we have in Texas.

[Domestic Goddess]

HHmm... I wonder if I can substitute chicken gizzard for this? Here in Korea, it is easy to get a bag (usually half a kilo) of frozen chicken gizzards but chicken livers you have to get from a butcher (who happens to be your friend).

[Kent Wang]

HHmm... I wonder if I can substitute chicken gizzard for this? Here in Korea, it is easy to get a bag (usually half a kilo) of frozen chicken gizzards but chicken livers you have to get from a butcher (who happens to be your friend).

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Chicken gizzards are about half the size and the texture is also quite a different. I would not recommend them for this recipe though I'm working on another pictorial recipe that works for both duck and chicken.

[warlockdilemma]

This is cool,every weekend hzrt8w's pictorial was something I used to look forward too,now with Kent starting what looks to be a promising start...great job guys...keep it up