Red Cooked Duck With Five Spices Recipes

Steps:

• To make the five-spice rub, put the fennel, cinnamon, star anise, Szechwan peppercorns (or cardamom), cloves, and chipotle pepper in a small pan over medium heat and toast for a few minutes until aromatic, shaking the pan. Let cool, then grind the toasted spices in a spice mill or clean coffee grinder. Transfer the ground spices to a bowl. Add the ginger, garlic, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine well.
• Pat spice rub generously all over the skin of the ducks, place them on a rack over a roasting pan, and refrigerate them, uncovered, for at least 2 hours, or, preferably overnight.
• Preheat a grill.
• When you are ready to cook the ducks, place them on a rotisserie over a grill with a drip pan set directly under the ducks. Keep the fire fairly low to avoid flare ups. Cook the ducks until the juices run clear and an instant read thermometer inserted into the thigh reads 175 degrees F, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove the ducks from the rotisserie and carve them into breast and leg-thigh portions.

Steps:

• Combine honey, soy sauce, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
• In a large saucepan, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Meanwhile, remove giblets and neck from duck cavity and discard (or reserve for another use). Cut off excess fat from cavity and neck area, then cut off tail. (This helps balance the duck vertically over the beer can.)
• Using your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the breast meat through the bottom of the breasts and work your fingers upward to separate the skin from the meat (be careful not to tear skin). Next, separate the skin from the backbone through the neck and working your way down until you reach the legs. (Scissors are helpful, but be careful to avoid piercing the skin.) Transfer duck to a rack set in the sink.
• Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour half of the boiling water evenly over top of the duck. Flip duck and pour the remaining water evenly all over second side. Tilt duck to drain all water from the cavity, then pat dry with paper towels.
• In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder with 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper and 1 tablespoon of the glaze. Rub the mixture inside the cavity. Stand duck vertically by inserting beer can into cavity and place in a roasting pan or on a rimmed baking sheet.
• Using a pastry brush, brush the remaining glaze all over the duck and sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Place duck in the refrigerator, uncovered, until the skin feels dry and leathery, 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees with rack in bottom third of oven. Remove duck from refrigerator, and add 1 1/2 cups water to the pan. Wrap wing tips and tips of drumsticks with foil to prevent burning, then loosely tent duck with foil. Roast for 15 minutes. Decrease temperature to 350 degrees and roast, tented with foil, until skin is mahogany and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes more, adding more water to the pan if needed.
• Leaving duck on the can, transfer duck vertically to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve the crispy skin from the back and legs of the duck, and slice into strips.
• Carefully remove duck from the beer can and return to cutting board. Carve off the breasts and legs; thinly slice the breasts and shred dark meat.
• Carefully strain pan juices into a small bowl and pour off all the fat. In another small bowl, whisk together the hoisin, sesame oil and up to 1/4 cup of the pan juices to form sauce.
• To serve, spread 1 tablespoon prepared sauce on each tortilla. Top each with some scallions, cucumbers, duck meat and crispy skin. Roll up and enjoy warm.

Steps:

• Prepare bean curd: In a saucepan combine water, 1/4 cup of the soy sauce and five-spice powder. Add bean curd and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and let bean curd marinate in liquid, 1 hour. Using a slotted spoon, place bean curd in one layer on a plate lined with paper towels. Reserve cooking liquid. Cover bean curd with more towels, then weight with 5-pound weight. Bean curd must be pressed under weight at least 5 hours, or refrigerated with weight up to 24 hours.
• Prepare duck: In a nonreactive bowl mix duck with garlic, the remaining 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup of the Shao Hsing and sugar. Marinate overnight.
• Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium-high heat. Add duck, skin-side down, and cook 5 minutes, or until well-browned. Turn and cook 2 minutes more. Remove duck to a plate and discard rendered fat. Place pan over high heat, and add remaining 1/2 cup Shao Hsing and reserved bean curd cooking liquid, stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Add ginger, scallions, chili peppers and star anise and bring to a boil. Place duck pieces in a sand pot (or an enamelware or cast iron pot) skin-side up. Using a slotted spoon, transfer ginger, scallions and spices to pot and scatter over duck pieces. Pour cooking liquid over duck to barely cover. You may not need to use all liquid. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer, basting occasionally, 1 hour. (If you use a sand pot, read instructions carefully. Be sure to use a flame tamer to prevent pot from cracking.)
• Just before serving slice pressed bean curd into 1/4-inch thick slices. Add bean curd to pot and simmer 1 minute to heat through. In a cup, dissolve cornstarch in water to consistency of heavy cream. Using a slotted spoon, divide duck, bean curd and aromatics among 6 plates. Bring cooking liquid to a boil and add cornstarch mixture, stirring well until thickened. Taste for seasoning, then spoon sauce over duck.

Steps:

• 1. Slowly bring soy sauce and sherry to a boil in a heavy pan. Meanwhile wipe duck inside and out with a damp cloth, then add to pan. Cook, turning to color evenly (about 2 minutes on each side). 2. Remove duck, leaving liquids in pan. Rub Five Spices into skin then return bird to pan. 3. Add enough cold water to half cover duck. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, about 1 hour, turning bird at 20-minute intervals for even cooking and coloring. 4. With a cleaver, chop duck, bones and all, in 2-inch sections or carve, Western-style. Serve hot or cold. The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

Steps:

• Cut all the vegetables into to thin sticks, about the same size as the beans. Drop the beans into a pan of boiling water and bring back to the boil.
• Add the carrots and the red pepper and cook for 1 minute. Drain, rinse under cold water, and then dry on kitchen paper.
• Lightly score the skin of each duck breast into a diamond pattern with the tip of a sharp knife, taking care that you don't cut through the meat.
• Heat a dry frying pan until it is quite hot. Add the duck breasts, skin-side down, reduce the heat to medium and cook them for about three to four minutes until the skin is crisp and golden brown.
• Turn the breasts over and cook them for another five minutes, or a little longer if you don't like your duck too pink. Meanwhile, mix together the five-spice powder, honey, sweet soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and chili.
• Pour away all of the excess fat from the pan. Add the honey mixture and leave it to bubble away, turning the duck breasts now and then, until they are nicely glazed.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or another frying pan, add the garlic, ginger and vegetables and stir-fry for one to two minutes until they are cooked but still crunchy. Season with some salt and pepper.
• Pile the vegetable sticks into the centre of two warmed plates. Slice each duck breast on the diagonal and carefully sit it on top of the vegetables.
• Spoon over any remaining glaze and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut away and discard the peripheral fat and skin from the duck. That is to say, the fat from the cavity, the excess skin around the neck and cavity opening and so on.
• Brush the duck all over with one tablespoon of the dark soy sauce. Place on a rack, breast side up, and roast for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine in a kettle the remaining dark soy sauce, the light soy sauce, cold water, shaoxing or dry Sherry, rock sugar, ginger, scallions, star anise and tangerine or orange peel. Set aside.
• Remove the duck from the roasting pan and add it, breast side down, to the sauce. Bring the sauce to the boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer 30 minutes.
• Turn the duck in the sauce. Cover and return to the boil. Let simmer 30 minutes. The duck may be eaten at this point, hot or cold. If you are using it to make the many-flavor duck salad, see the recipe.

Steps:

• thaw duck overnight in refrigerator.
• remove giblets and trim excess fat from tail area or anywhere hanging.
• pierce chopstick or skewer under wing and bring through to other side to pierce through under the other wing on the other side in order to give you a way to dunk and hang duck. wings may be removed if desired.
• in large wok or pot bring water to a boil.
• add in ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, xiao xing, and honey and stir to dissolve honey completely.
• make a slurry with cornstarch (mix with water) then add to boiling mixture.
• dunk duck into boiling mixture and spoon liquid over duck for a couple of minutes making sure you completely moisten duck and render some fat.
• repeat process for another couple of minutes.
• immediately hang duck in cool room with a fan on high pointed directly on duck. make sure you put a pot or similar under duck to catch drippings.
• rotate duck to ensure even drying. should take about 5 hours. skin will become taunt and tight.
• after 4-6 hours, rub duck with 5-spice powder to taste.
• heat oven to 375 degrees.
• place duck onto roasting or cooling rack on middle or top rack of oven with a large pan filled with about 2 inches of water on bottom rack of a 375 degree oven. this will catch any drippings, keep your oven clean, and keep duck moist.
• roast uncovered for about 1-1 1/2 hours rotating it 2-3 times.
• check internal temperature for doneness. mine was perfect at 175 degrees in the breast. note that convection ovens will cook duck quite fast.
• remove duck and rest 10 minutes before serving whole or chopping Chinese style on the bone.

Steps:

• Trim duck breasts as necessary, removing extraneous fat or gristle. Score the skin side of the breast diagonally with a sharp knife.
• Season both sides of the duck breasts with salt, then sprinkle both sides evenly with five-spice powder. Mix together ginger and garlic and use it to slather the breasts. Cover and let marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature. (Alternatively, wrap and refrigerate for several hours, or even overnight; bring back to room temperature before cooking.)
• Place a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, lay duck breast in it skin-side down. Let sizzle gently for 7 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden, adjusting heat as necessary to keep from getting too dark too quickly. Turn breast over and cook 3 to 5 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer should register 125 degrees for medium rare. Remove from pan and let rest for 10 minutes on a warm plate. Drain fat from pan (reserve for another use if you wish).
• Make the sauce: Over medium heat, add shallots to same pan and cook until softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add sherry vinegar, brown sugar and half the blackberries, stirring until sugar is dissolved and berries have released their juice. Add chicken broth, raise heat and simmer rapidly until liquid is reduced by half and a bit syrupy. Strain the contents of the skillet into a small saucepan and keep warm.
• To serve, slice duck breast thinly across the grain on a diagonal and arrange on a platter. Spoon the sauce over the meat and garnish with the rest of the blackberries.