Crispy Five Spice Duck Breasts aka "Three Day Duck"

Here's a fun little recipe, adapted from Cecilia Chiang's autobiographical cookbook, The Seventh Daughter. I've been fascinated by the book, not only are the stories great, but the recipes are deceptively easy. Almost too easy. I finally got around to making a couple of things and I have to say, even though I think the recipes are a bit gringo-ized, the duck turned out very crisp, nicely infused with flavor, though a bit on the dry side. I did bump up a lot of the seasoning, but I was happy with the result.

I'll probably use a glaze like the one for my Char Siu Glazed Duck next time, or maybe I'll come up with something more interesting. Though this duck takes three days to prepare, it's pretty easy stuff....... So here goes:

Day 1

1 1/2 Tb Five Spice Powder (we used the stuff we brought back from QingDao)
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (when using wine of any sort/country, get the drinking variety)
1 thumb size piece of ginger, skin removed (use a spoon), cut into thin slices - about 6-7
2 stalks scallions, green parts cut into 2" pieces, white parts chopped and smashed
1 Tb sea salt
2 duck breast halves

- Mix all ingredients together
- Place duck in marinade and rub well
- Place in a ziploc bag and let marinate overnight

The next day you'll remove the duck from the marinade and take off straggling pieces of ginger and scallions.

Day 2

- Steam these babies for 30 minutes
- Remove from plate and liquid and place on a plate lined with paper towels to cool (I gotta figure something to do with all the oil/liquid that came out of the duck)
- I actually seasoned with a bit more salt and five spice....just because
- Once cool place in the fridge (DO NOT cover) to let dry overnight

The next (big) day these babies will look like they've suffered a bit of shrinkage, which they did.

Day 3

- In my cast iron pan, I heated about an inch and a half of oil to 350 (like I really measured)
- Fry the duck breasts for about two minutes each side

Seemed a bit dry so I served with Hoisin Sauce and sliced scallions.

In her book Cecilia Chiang calls this Sichuan Crispy Duck....but I really don't think that's correct. But whatever you call it, it pretty delicious.

Last weekend when I was bored, I used up five stalks of scallions that were starting to go brown and made some scallion oil. I then used two bulbs of garlic and made some garlic oil...really...I do stuff like that when I'm bored. I served the whole thing up with some Scallion and Garlic Oil Noodles.

Three days, but not much overall time involved.....step 1 I did in the middle of a post when I got bored. Step 2 meant turning on the stove. Step three was tonight......

It was a nice dinner three days in the making.

Comments

[MrZ]

Looks tasty! MrsZ doesn't like duck, so do you think this would work well with chicken? Or pork belly?

[Kirk]

Hey MrZ - You could do it with Chicken Legs. Need a good ratio of skin. If you use legs, prick the skin with a fork before marinating.

[kat]

looks fabulous!

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - It turned out pretty good.

[kirbie]

Wow this looks amazing! I can imagine how crispy the skin is just by looking at your photos.

[HungryHuy]

Kirk, that skin looks great. Don't knock temperature measuring though, I do it ;). I was reading your duck breast post from 2011 and saw a comment about "the Missus taking a nap while you cooked." I feel ya there!

[Kirk]

Hi Kirbie - That skin did turn out crisp.

Hi Huy - I usually use a thermometer when doing deep drying, but it's not real accurate when you only have an inch and a hlaf of oil in a pan....I rather do the "eye ball" test.