Pictorial: Salt-pressed duck gizzard

[Kent Wang]

Pictorial Recipe

Salt-pressed duck gizzard

This is a common dish served as a cold appetizer anywhere from common working class joints to fancy restaurants. The gizzards are salted, spiced with star anise and Sichuan pepper, drizzled with sesame oil and mixed with sea salt to add a little extra textural interest.

Serving Suggestion: 3 - 4

Ingredients:

- 0.5 lb duck gizzard

- star anise

- Sichuan pepper

- Chinese cooking wine

- salt

- ginger

- scallions

- sesame oil

- sea salt

Start with .5 lb duck gizzard.

Trim fat.

Cooking wine, salt, Sichuan pepper, star anise.

Crush up the star anise, Sichuan pepper a bit.

Add star anise, Sichuan pepper, 2 tbsp salt, 1/2 up cooking wine. Mix and refrigerate for a few days.

Wash off the salt and seasonings, place into pan.

Add ginger, scallions, 1 tbsp salt, cooking wine.

Fill with water to immerse, cook for 20 minutes with lid on.

Strain and cool, slice into pieces.

Add 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp sea salt (I'm using fleur de sel).

Done!

Edited October 27, 2006 by Kent Wang (log)

[Shalmanese]

Great, you post this after I've confitted my gizzards.

Next time. Is there any way you can buy just gizzards or do you just have to collect them from whole ducks?

[muichoi]

Looks great-but reading it I'm surprised by the need for extra salt when simmering, let alone when serving.

[Kent Wang]

Great, you post this after I've confitted my gizzards.

Next time. Is there any way you can buy just gizzards or do you just have to collect them from whole ducks?

←

I bought a whole pound of gizzards from the Chinese supermarket, confited half and used half for this recipe.

Looks great-but reading it I'm surprised by the need for extra salt when simmering, let alone when serving.

←

The gizzards don't absorb much salt flavor so a bit of extra sea salt at the end is necessary. You can always salt to taste.

[I_call_the_duck]

Gee, Kent, you're the Iron Chef of duck gizzards!

[hzrt8w]

Add 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp fleur de sel.

←

Nice work, Kent!

What is "fleur de sel"? I am not familiar with this ingredient and have not heard of it used in Chinese cooking. Is this for some purpose or for the flavor?

[Kent Wang]

What is "fleur de sel"?  I am not familiar with this ingredient and have not heard of it used in Chinese cooking.  Is this for some purpose or for the flavor?

←

Fleur de sel is a type (maybe a brand as well) of French sea salt that is commonly in Western cuisine. It is has a nice crunch to it, unlike cheaper sea salts. One can use any sea salt or even regular salt but I recommend one that has a nice texture to it. I've updated the recipe to indicate this.

Edited October 27, 2006 by Kent Wang (log)

[gus_tatory]

ok, here's the stupid question: what is the "pressed" part of this recipe? did they maybe press the gizzards, and you've adopted an easier way of doing it?

[Kent Wang]

ok, here's the stupid question: what is the "pressed" part of this recipe? did they maybe press the gizzards, and you've adopted an easier way of doing it?

←

Good question. In Chinese, it's called yan shui ya zhen gan (my pin yin is a little shaky on this one), literally salt water duck gizzard. There is no "pressed" in the Chinese name. Another common dish is yan shui ji, literally salt water chicken, but is often translated as salt-pressed chicken. The preparation technique is similar as the chicken is salted for a few days. I believe "salt-pressed" is just a quirk of translation; it shoud simply mean salted and placed in a container for a few days.