This was a recipe that we were all very very excited to make. The whole family loves duck and Chinese noodles are always a hit. The recipe says to use 4 duck legs. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem but when we went to the shops all we could find were duck breasts. We decided that these would be ok and bought 2. This dish is also a little more complicated because you have to start it 24 hours in advance, by preparing a rub for the duck and leaving it in the fridge to let the flavours infuse. Since I was out the night before, Soph did this part without me, but don't worry, our parents were visiting so my mum was there to keep her company.
Unfortunately it appears that Soph can't be trusted to take photos while I'm not there so there aren't any pictures of this prep stage. I let her off though since apparently I can't be trusted to follow a recipe if she's not there to check up on me. Now you see why we're doing this as a team.
The next evening, it was time to start the actual cooking. Allegra says that the duck should be cooked in the oven, sat in what is effectively an oil bath, and then turned half way through cooking. As you know, Soph and I are not too keen on using vats of oil for things on the hob or in the oven, so we decided to use the deep fat fryer, having established that it can go as low as 140°C, which is the recommended oven temperature for cooking the duck.
Our wanting to cook it in the deep fat fryer was also prompted by the fact that we usually only cook duck for a very short time on the griddle so that it doesn't dry out. Because of this, we had a hard time believing that cooking it in oil for two hours would work out well and we thought that the deep fat fryer would be easier to keep an eye on. Taking a dish full of oil in and out of the oven would likely end in disaster, especially if I was left unsupervised at any point.
Now you might be thinking, "but the oil wouldn't be at 140°C just because the oven was", and you might be right, I really have no idea. We veared off recipe here because we only cooked them for about 40 minutes or so, not the two hours it says it will take in the oven. At this point, we were very happy to have our parents around because they cook duck a lot more often than us and having them on hand meant that we were able to have them check the correct texture of the duck. For this recipe, it needs to be shredded but the outside is also meant to be very crispy so it was quite tricky to time. In the end though we think we wound up cooking it perfectly. It shreaded very well and the crispy edges were perfection.
This was by far the most confusing part of the recipe as well. The rest of the dish simply comprises cooking the noodles according to their packet instructions, adding the brocolli, putting in some soy sauce and then tossing in the duck and spring onions.
For the duck, Allegra suggests separating the skin from the meat and frying this with the spring onion for a little while before adding the rest of the duck. We couldn't do this though because the skin on our duck was so crispy that it broke up when Soph tried to pull it off. We still ate it of course, it was amazing, but we decided it didn't need re-frying.
Not only was the resulting dish the best Chinese meal we've ever made, it was also one of the simplest. It went down a treat with the whole family and we will definitely make it again.
One of the most interesting things about this recipe was actually where it came from. Those of you who paid attention to the title of this post will have noticed that it's not from the Chinese section of the book. You just checked it didn't you? Yes, that's right, it's from San Francisco. That little fact surprised my parents as well since, as I said, it tasted very authentic. Well, as authentic as the Chinese we're used to in the UK is at any rate. Either way, certainly one to repeat.
Next time we attempt it though, we may well try cooking it in the oven, since it will no doubt have a different texture. Although using the deep fat fryer did have the added bonus that the oil in our chip pan kept the Chinese flavour so we also made the best spring rolls ever the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment