This dish owes its reputation not so much to the way it is cooked, but to the way it is theatrically carved and eaten rolled into pancakes. In restaurants, the duck is cooked in a special oven, but this recipe has been modified for the home kitchen.
Ingredients: (Serves 6)
- 2.5 kg (5 lb 8 oz) duck
- 2 tablespoons maltose or honey, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) hoisin sauce or plum sauce
- 24 Mandarin pancakes
- 6-8 scallions (spring onions), shredded
- ½ Lebanese (shod) cucumber, shredded
Method:
Cut the wing tips off the duck with poultry shears. Rinse the duck, drain, and remove any fat from the cavity opening and around the neck. Cut off and discard the parson’s nose. Plunge the duck into a pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes to tighten the skin. Remove and drain, then dry thoroughly.
While the skin is still warm, brush the duck all over with the maltose or honey and water solution, then hang it up to dry in a cool and airy place for at least 6 hours, or overnight, or leave it uncovered in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Place the duck, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting tin, and cook without basting or turning for 1½ hours. Check to make sure the duck is not getting too dark and, if it is, cover it loosely with foil.
Remove the crisp duck skin in small slices by using a sharp carving knife, then carve the meat, or carve both together. Arrange on a serving plate.
To serve, spread about 1 teaspoon of the hoisin sauce or plum sauce in the center of a pancake, add a few strips of spring onion, cucumber, duck skin and meat, roll up the pancake and turn up the bottom edge to prevent the contents from falling out.
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