Siew Ngap ~ Chinese Roast Duck

This year Chinese New Year falls on 26 January. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and family KONG HEI FATT CHOY ! All the best for the year of the Ox. Good eats and all things nice. May the recession be over and food prices drop back to normal.

Our favourite all time food has to be duck. Recently our Indian shop decided to stock huge ducks (2.8kg) and at a reasonable price too. Choice! Usually ducks at 2kg or less come out a bit disappointing especially when we spent so much time and effort cooking to end up with just a thin sliver of meat.

At first I was worried that this enormous duck would end up being fatty. But not at all. It had this thick layer of meat and very little fat in the skin (could be due to all that pricking). We were able to get 4 meals out of this one duck. Guess how many bird I ended up buying....yes 5 is sitting in my freezer. I would hate the shop to run out of stock so I ended up hoarding. ha ha


Because this bird was huge I decided to try a different take on the roasting so as not to end up with burnt skin and uncooked meat. This duck is cooked for a longer period starting with a low temperature. Even though I only managed to marinade it for a short time frame of 4 hours, the meat had plenty of flavour. As usual we end up fighting over the skin. lol

A mouthwatering duck that is moist and succulent yet is not as time consuming and tedious to cook and prepare.

Ingredients
2.8 kg whole duck

2 ½ Tbsp five spice powder
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar

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Itek Sio ~ Braised Duck in Tamarind n' Coriander

Itek Sio is a Peranakan braised duck in tamarind and coriander gravy. Cooking duck can be time consuming but using a pressure cooker can reduce the cooking time to a third. To ensure a very fragrant sauce try to use freshly ground coriander. A very tasty fork tender duck with minimum preparation.

Ingredients
½ duck (1kg)
1 Tbsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp raw sugar
2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 cup water

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Pak Lo Ngap ~ Teochew Braised Duck

A very scrumptious duck. This teochew braised duck called Pak Lo Ngap in cantonese, is sweet tasting from the use of rock sugar and is contrasted sharply by the vinegary dipping sauce. You get that mouth watering sweet sour sensation.

In this instance I have used the pressure cooker to cook half a duck which only took less than a third of the time. The duck was well braised and the meat literally falling off the bones.

Ingredients
½ duck (1kg)
½ Tbsp five spice powder
3/4 tsp salt

20 gm galangal, finely sliced
4 pip garlic, finely sliced
½ Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp sugar
100 ml soy sauce
1¼ - 2 cup water

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Peking Duck

We don’t often dine out in NZ as we are quite happy to relax at home with our own cooking – who needs the traffic and parking hassles! The reverse is true however, when we are overseas on holiday – why stay in the hotel / apartment when there are so many new things to ‘tickle the senses’, especially the taste buds.

Our favorite food is Chinese, and Peking Duck would have to be one of our preferred dishes as either dine-in or more often than not as a take-away to be enjoyed in the evening in front of the TV with a cold beer.

Over the years I have tried to replicate this dish and this is my latest recipe which is still a ‘work in progress’. See my previous Peking Duck post.

Ingredients
1 whole duck – giblets removed
3 Tbsp 5 spice powder
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cooking oil
1 star anise (see tip 5)
½ cinnamon stick (see tip 5)
1 Tbsp maltose (optional, see tip 4)
6 garlic cloves

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Peking Roast Duck

My Peking Duck straight out of the oven ready for Mrs. Redneck and her chopper!

Chinese roast duck (or Peking duck) is one of my all-time favourite Chinese dishes and has become a regular item on the Redneck’s menu for the last 8 years or so. At least once a month, we would purchase duck as a take-away from our local Chinese Restaurant until one day, shock, horror, we discovered that the place had closed down and was replaced by a Laundromat. The thought of travelling long distances in the evening just to get a take-away did not appeal so we decided to cook our own. Fortunately at about the same time reasonable priced frozen duck became available in local stores (they were as hard to find as ducks teeth prior to this).

The recipe I use is a bit of a “work in progress” as it is constantly being refined and improved, when I am happy with it I will post the recipe. We in fact have two recipes, mine and Mrs. Rednecks and the “jury is out” as to which is the best. My version has crispier skin which is vital for a good Peking duck while hers is easier to prepare, but as previously mentioned some more trials are required as the missus wants me to marinate the thing overnight to provide a better flavour and I want to cook longer for a crispier skin. Both recipes use an airbed pump and a ball-inflating needle to force air between the ducks skin and fat which helps the crisping process – a bit messy but worth it. The cooking time and oven temperature is critical as the duck burns easily due to the sweet marinade. My very first effort was rather dark (read black!) – The skin was nice and crispy though!

Half of the duck chopped-up by the missus ready for serving (the rest goes to the freezer).

ETA : Recipe available here