Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Siew Ngap ~ Chinese Roast Duck

This year Chinese New Year falls on 26 January. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and family KONG HEI FATT CHOY ! All the best for the year of the Ox. Good eats and all things nice. May the recession be over and food prices drop back to normal.

Our favourite all time food has to be duck. Recently our Indian shop decided to stock huge ducks (2.8kg) and at a reasonable price too. Choice! Usually ducks at 2kg or less come out a bit disappointing especially when we spent so much time and effort cooking to end up with just a thin sliver of meat.

At first I was worried that this enormous duck would end up being fatty. But not at all. It had this thick layer of meat and very little fat in the skin (could be due to all that pricking). We were able to get 4 meals out of this one duck. Guess how many bird I ended up buying....yes 5 is sitting in my freezer. I would hate the shop to run out of stock so I ended up hoarding. ha ha

Siew Ngap
Because this bird was huge I decided to try a different take on the roasting so as not to end up with burnt skin and uncooked meat. This duck is cooked for a longer period starting with a low temperature. Even though I only managed to marinade it for a short time frame of 4 hours, the meat had plenty of flavour. As usual we end up fighting over the skin. lol

A mouthwatering duck that is moist and succulent yet is not as time consuming and tedious to cook and prepare.


Ingredients
2.8 kg whole duck

2 ½ Tbsp five spice powder
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar


Glazing
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp honey

Method
1. Clean and dunk duck in boiling water for 5 minutes.

duck in hot water
Hot water bath in a stock pot


2. Pat the duck dry with paper towels. Rub with 5 spice, salt and sugar.

3. Leave to hang in a cool breezy place for a few hours.

duck hanging to dry skin
Hanging in the porch

4. Brush the duck skin with rice vinegar and honey.

duck with foil socks
Wrap loosely with foil the wings, legs, neck and head. Close duck breast opening with a toothpick. Remove foil about ½ hour before end of roasting time.


5. Prick the skin all over with a sharp toothpick or skewer. Roast in a rack, breast side up first for 2 hours (see note).

6. Remove duck from oven and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

roast duck resting

Note
1. Roasting times for the 2 hours were as follows :
  • 50 minutes on 150C
    30 minutes on 150C
    15 minutes on 165C
    15 minutes on 185C
    10 minutes on 185C
If using a fan oven, reduce the temperature by a further 10-15C.
Cooking times are approximate and depends on your oven.

2. After each time interval, remove the duck from the oven, turn, flip, check, prick the skin and drain the fat from the pan.

Chinese Roast Duck
Tip
1. Skewer shut the breast opening with a toothpick. This will help retain moisture and gravy inside the duck to keep the flesh from drying out.

2. Do not throw away the clear duck fat. Keep it in the fridge or freezer and use in place of lard. It is presumably healthier with mono saturated fat.

3. To freeze : chop the duck into half or quarter. To defrost : microwave until hot. Put the duck under a hot grill for a few minutes to crispen up the skin.

26 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sinner,
Thanks for your wonderful Siew Ngap, it looks delicious & moist. Here I would like to wish you & family A very Happy New Year ~ Kong Hei Fatt Choy.

Anonymous said...

Your duck looks absolutely gorgeous! Will try it out when I have the courage...;)

Par said...

Can't help but to notice the beautiful background of the hanging duck, nice area!

Anonymous said...

Oooh! My favorite dish!!! I always order Siew Ngap whenever we go to a Chinese BBQ Shop!

Drooling! Drooling! Drooling!

Great job!

Hong Hei Fatt Choy to you and your family!!! Have a fantastic 2009!!!

cupcakesordeath said...

Hello, that duck looks gorgeous! You're fantastic :D
Here's wishing you & family Kong Hey Fatt Choy!

p/s: you must have a cave of a fridge!!

Unknown said...

I think I'm in love... :) I love your blog. Stumbled upon it while googling for some recipes. I miss Malaysian food so much! And luckily, my husband enjoys Malaysian food too. I can barely cook, but I think I'm going to try some of your recipes, especially the siew yoke since CNY is coming up, provided I can find the right cut of pork. Thanks for sharing!! Your website is the BEST! Happy Chinese New Year!!

Sinner said...

Delphine - Kong Hei Fatt Choy.

Lynn - This duck is fail safe.

K@K - Thank you.

Tricia - Same here but not any more. At least now we can move on and try other dishes :). Kong Hei Fatt Choy

cupcakes - Thank you. At last count 2 freezers. haha. Gong Xi Fa Chai

YvonneThank you. All the best for the new year of the Ox.

Anonymous said...

Sinner, Gong Xi! Gong Xi!
Saliva drooling....look at that meaty and succulent drumstick.

Unknown said...

gong xi fa cai to you and family.

can't help drooling

Anonymous said...

Hi Sinner,
Recently landed on your blog and find your recipes really helpful. An avid cook myself, I'm always striving to find that 'little bit more' to improve my skills.

Anyway my main aim in writing this is to thank you and express my appreciation to generous people like you sharing these wonderful recipes online.

I also take this opportunity in wishing you Kong Hei Fatt Choi!!!

btw love the pics of the finished dish esp Mr Duck 'sitting' on the plate. haha!

Anonymous said...

Looks really good!!! Gong xi fa cai!

Amy Goh said...

Drool...Can I add this to my reunion dinner menu? So yummy looking. I have got to try it one of these days. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Sinner said...

Vien - Gong Xi, Gong Xi

lilyng - Kong Hei Fatt Choy

Emily - Thanks. It's a nice feeling when someone across the continent tells you that they have enjoyed that same meal.

mycookinghut - Gong Xi Fa Chai

Amy - Do try. It is the oven that does all the hard work ;) How about Siew Ngap for Chap Goh Meh dinner :)

LittleHands said...

Sinner, the roast duck looks so good!! *slurp slurp*

Wah! So much work! I think I'll stick to roasting chicken hehe.

Wishing You & Your Family A Very Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year!

GONG XI FA CAI!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Your roast duck makes me drool!! Looks so good! Bet it tasted great too.

So glad I found your blog link from your kway teow youtube video. ;)

Well Kong hei Fatt Choy!

pigpigscorner said...

Gong Hei Fatt Choy! The duck looks really good! The skin is gorgeous! I've always wanted to make roast duck but it sounds like a tedious job to dry then to roast.

Jo said...

Oh wow, siew ngap, my favourite and I was just thinking about Peking duck the other day. This looks as good as any chinese restaurant's.

Sinner said...

LittleHands - This duck is much less work. You will slurp slurp away even before it goes into the oven for roasting ;)

Jade - Welcome. It sure does taste good.

pigpigscorner - Thanks. You can always leave the duck in the fridge overnight uncovered. That should dry up the skin.

Jo - Thanks. Worth making especially if you can get reasonably priced duck.

Anonymous said...

I like your website. Such yummy dishes. Where did you buy your huge duck? I can only find size 18 in the shops in Birkenhead. How much is one duck? June.

Sinner said...

June, I bought it at Arkh Spice Shop in Swanson Rd. They are packed as Quake-A-Duck @$19 on special but they sell fast. Sometimes they have those with no labels. I prefer not to buy those.

melvy. said...

im just wondering but, what would be a good chilli condiment to eat with it?

Sinner said...

melvy,

For roast duck we prefer to dip with plum sauce.

Anonymous said...

I love your braised duck.My hubby and son luv them too.DELICIOUS!!!

tikustitches said...

Superb! simply, easy and TASTY!

Sinner said...

Thanks tikustiches. Glad you like the duck.

joan25 said...

Finally after so many burned and half cooked ducks,we finally found a recipe that actually does what is says on the tin.mt duck came out gorgeous my hUsband couldn't believe it!!thank you do much for this!!!

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