Crispy taro-crusted duck with mandarin sauce

This is a complex recipe for authentic Peking-style duck, served with a mandarin sauce instead of the orange sauce you might expect.

Crispy taro-crusted duck in mandarin sauce. Credit: Poh's Kitchen

• serves

  2

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1:15 hour

• difficulty

  Ace

This recipe is delicious with a side of stir-fried spinach.

Ingredients

• 1 x 2 kg Peking duck
• 100 g palm sugar
• 2 mandarins, peeled, pith removed, cut into julienne strips
• 3 tbsp julienned ginger
• 50 ml fish sauce
• 50 ml fresh mandarin juice
• 2 mandarins, peeled and segmented
• peanut oil, for frying

Marinade

• 30 ml light soy
• 60 ml Shaoxing rice wine
• 2 spring onions, white part only, cut into rounds
• 2 pieces dried orange peel
• 1 knob ginger, peeled, finely diced
• 1 star anise, crushed
• 20 g yellow rock sugar

Coating

• 2 egg whites
• 100 g taro flour
• 50 g rice flour

Instructions

1. Place duck on a chopping board and remove fat from cavity. Cut off winglets and neck and with a cleaver. Split duck in half.
2. To make marinade, combine all ingredients in a saucepan on medium-high heat and boil for 2 minutes. Allow to cool, then rub marinade all over duck. Marinate for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.
3. Bring a pot of water to the boil and steam duck for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to the point where you can handle it. Carefully remove bones, taking care not to break the skin. Use a small knife to ease out the wing and leg bone. Deboning is easier when the duck is slightly warm, as it presses together much better. At the end of this step you should have 2 rectangles of duck.
4. Place duck on a board and fold under all the skin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (allow some slack so they can spread). Place in a container and set another container that fits inside the first on top, then a 5 kg weight. Refrigerate overnight.
5. Take duck out of container and unwrap. You should have two solid pieces of duck with flat, smooth-skinned sides. Place a steamer on the stove over some boiling water.
6. To make the coating, whisk egg whites in a bowl until they start to thicken, but before soft peaks form. Mix flours together.
7. Dip duck into egg whites, skin-side down. Ensure there is an even cover of egg white over the skin. With a sieve, dust the duck with the flours, blow off any excess and place on a heatproof plate. Repeat. Place both in a steamer and cook for 20–25 minutes, or until egg white crust is dry to the touch. If it is undercooked, it will detach from the duck during the frying process, so ensure that it is cooked through.
8. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, place palm sugar and a little water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add mandarin peel and ginger and continue to cook until the palm sugar reaches a dark caramel colour. Add fish sauce and mandarin juice and stir. Add mandarin fillets and set aside, keeping warm.
9. Add enough peanut oil to a wok or deep fryer to submerge the ducks, and heat to 180°C. Add ducks and fry for about 6 minutes, or until the coating is crisp and the duck warmed through. Remove and drain. Rest in a warm place.
10. To serve, cut the ducks into finger-wide slices and spoon the sauce over.

 

Poh's Kitchen, season 1 to season 3, premieres on Tuesday 20 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This recipe is delicious with a side of stir-fried spinach.