Kiss The Cook: Homemade Chinese Duck & Pancakes

For evening parties, try our homemade Peking Duck as a starter, or pre-roll it into pancakes to serve as canapés.

You’ll Need:

• 1 whole duck weighing around 2-3 lbs
• 2-inch cube of ginger, grated
• 1-2 tbsp Chinese allspice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Zest of half an orange
• 1 tbsp rock salt
• 10 wheat pancakes
• 1 cucumber
• 10 spring onions
• 1 jar Hoisin or Peking Duck sauce (available in most supermarkets)

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 200°C.
• Pat your duck skin dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. The skin needs to be very dry to crisp up, so if you have the time, allow your duck to air dry uncovered in the fridge overnight, or alternatively, blow it with your hairdryer for a few minutes! Then stab the skin a few times with a skewer, which allows the fat it to drain, and place it on a rack within a roasting tray. This will allow the oil generated by the duck to drip down and collect in the pan.
• Rub the duck skin with the allspice, rock salt, baking powder (this improves the crispiness) orange zest and grated ginger.
• Place the duck in the oven for 1.5-2 hours by which time the meat should be cooked and the skin crispy.
• Shred the duck and place the meat and crispy skin onto a serving plate.
• Steam your pancakes for a minute or two then keep them warm in a tea towel.
• Prepare your cucumber and spring onion by chopping them into strips of the same length.
• Spoon your Hoisin or Peking Duck sauce into a bowl and serve alongside the duck, spring onions, cucumber and pancakes.

Serves four as a starter or eight as canapés.