Peking Duck with Homemade Plum Sauce



Peking Duck with Homemade Plum Sauce. An exquisite alternative Sunday lunch.

Believe it or not I was a Pescetarian for 3 years. I moved to London during the BSE crisis, and was horrified by the things I read on farming practices. I gave up meat for lent, not because I am at all religious, but because everyone in my office was giving up something. 40 days later I still didn’t want to eat meat, my resolve lasted 3 years. I crumbled when 2 dear friends got married and threw an amazing party with a spectacular 8 course feast. I didn’t want to opt for the cheese-salad on offer for the Veges, so went back to meat, breaking my drought with a plate of Foie Gras! Oh Dear.
Anyway, I tell this tale because during my time as a pescetarian I had a dirty secret… Whenever I went to a Chinese restaurant, I allowed myself Peking duck on the premise that it was ‘aquatic’! I’ve never been able to resist a Peking (or crispy aromatic) duck, it’s just too damn delicious in everyway. It has novelty, in that you make your own little roll-ups, it has that oh-so-crispy-tasty skin, it has succulent tender meat, aromatic sauce and it’s a great dish to share, bringing any table together in the communal joy of sharing a delectable meal.
When ‘Monsieur Fabuleuse’ gave this to me as my weekly culinary challenge, I was very excited. Being a traditional Chinese recipe I knew it would be at least 24 hours in the making, and would introduce me to some knew techniques. This is how it went.
I read, Ken Hom, Kylie Kwong and many online recipes and I watched dozens of how-to videos.

1.6kg duck

Ingredients for Peking Duck.

Spice Marinade for Filling.

1 star anise

1 tsp Szechwan peppercorns

2 tbs Shao Xing wine

2 tsp salt

Basting Marinade

5 cups water

1 lemon sliced

3 tbs honey

3 tbs dark soy sauce

3cups Shao Xing rice wine

My Homemade Chinese Plum Sauce

15 plums

1 star anise

¼ tsp 5spice

½ tsp chili flakes

3 tbs black vinegar

3 tbs honey

2 tbs dark soy sauce

Splash water

To Serve

24 Chinese pancakes (mu shu wrappers, can be bought from your local Chinese grocer)

10 spring onions cut into 10cm lengths and then sliced into fine strips

1 cucumber cut into 10cm lengths and then sliced into fine strips

1 carrot (optional) shredded into super fine strips.

Sweet bean sauce (can be bought from your local Chinese grocer)

Homemade Chinese plum sauce.

If using a frozen duck ensure it is thoroughly defrosted, this will take at least 24 hours. I recommend a fresh duck if at all possible.

Wash your duck inside and out and dry thoroughly with paper towel. Fill the cavity of the duck with the ingredients listed above. Leave to one side and make the basting marinade; by putting all the ingredients listed above into a large stock pot, bringing to a low boil and then simmering for half an hour.

Meanwhile you need to prep your duck for hanging, easy if you have a meat hook. If you don’t you can tie some kitchen twine around the wings, weaving it in and out and around and round until you can hold it aloft and feel that the duck is supported enough to hang overnight by the twine (see my picture).
Now think about where you are going to do the basting. You will be holding the duck above the pot for about ten minutes; I chose my kitchen table as it’s not too high.

basting the Peking Duck.

Now, to baste, hold the duck by the twine above the stock pot and ladle the hot marinade over the duck making sure you coat every inch of it very well. This is what gives the skin all of its flavour, so make sure it goes everywhere. The anemic skin should start to take on a tea-stained look. It should take 10-15 minutes.




Hang  in a cool dry place

 Now it’s time to hang your duck. Choose a cool, dry but airy place. I hung it in my laundry. It was rather macabre looking, see my picture. Remember to put a tray underneath the duck as it will drip.

My homemade plum sauce.

To make the plum sauce, put all the ingredients in a large pot, bring to a low boil and let it bubble for about 8 minutes, then reduce the heat and let it sit on a high simmer for a further 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn’t catch. It should go all glossy and dark and thick like chutney. Let this cool, then put it in a covered container and refrigerate until you need it. This recipe makes rather a large quantity, but you can bottle it and use it on all sorts of things. It should last about a week in the fridge.

The duck needs to hang for 12 hours (I left mine for about 24, and it was fine). The skin will feel dry, like paper and the duck will be a little more golden in colour.

Now preheat the oven to 240degrees, put the duck breast side DOWN on a rack over a tray filled with some water (this stops the duck fat splashing everywhere and burning). Roast it at this high heat for 15 minutes. Now reduce the heat to 180 and flip the duck breast side UP and roast for another 1hr and 10minutes. The duck will go very dark, but it is supposed to so don’t panic and think its burning. If towards the end of the cooking you think it might be starting to burn, turn the heat down to 170 for the last 15-20 minutes.



The duck is meant to be dark. It's not burnt.



When the duck is done, your kitchen will be filled with the most wonderful aromas, so your guests will be salivating and getting impatient, but they’ll have to wait as the duck needs to rest for 15 minutes. You can set the table with the sliced vegetable, and the sauces, everyone should have a small plate and some chopsticks each. I also had some steamed broccoli on the table.

Steam your pancakes, as per the instructions (batches of 10 usually take about 3-4 minutes)and keep them warm in a foil parcel.

carving the Peking Duck.

Get everyone sitting down and then bring the gorgeous, carmalised crispy duck to the table for slicing. I’m not even going to pretend I could master what the skilled Chinese chefs do (see this video!). Apparently you should get 120 even slices each perfectly proportioned with meat, fat and skin. We just cut the duck into slices where possible and shredded the rest using 2 forks.

Now your guests can tuck in by rolling their own scrumptious pancakes filled with the feast on the table.


Pancakes of Crispy Duck. Yum!


Tschin Tschin Yao Wie!