After having been gifted a couple Mallard from a friend of K94, we thought it appropriate to try something strange with them... enter the "Peking Mallard"! As with all Peking duck, the process is a long one, but the end result here is well worth it - that same gourmet Chinese experience but with a deeper, gamier, and less fatty flavour.
Peking duck, originating in Peking (modern day Beijing), has been perfected since the Imperial era, and offers diners that characteristic crispy skin and aromatic meat. Specialist restaurants for this dish began opening in the 15th century, and the domesticated ducks bred for this purpose can be traced back to a species of Mallard. So, the jump to using wild Mallard may not seem so strange after all! The smaller and leaner Mallard, however, does present more issues in achieving the crispy skin without losing too much fat to dry out the meat, but through our dish testing we think we've cracked it. Plus, using a sustainable and non-force fed bird has its own obvious merits.
Ingredients
- 1 x wild Mallard
- 5 spice blend (we make our own using the whole spices - fennel seeds, star anise, cloves, Szechuan peppercorns, Chinese cinnamon / cassia bark)
- 150ml Shaoxing rice wine
- 30ml black rice vinegar
- 4 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 20 shop bought Chinese pancakes
- 1 bunch spring onions
- Hoisin sauce
- (Optional sides: we served ours with pickles - radish, cucumber, and jalapeno - and a smashed cucumber salad)
Method
First (if the duck is not prepared already) pluck and gut it, remove the legs at the 'knee', but keep the wings, neck, and head attached.
Next, bring a pot of water to a simmer and ladle the water over the whole bird to firm up the skin - this also helps to loosen any remaining feathers which can then be scraped off. Hang the duck in the fridge to dry overnight.
Once dried out, separate the skin and flesh at the naval of the duck just enough to insert a tube or even a bike pump and inflate; you should see the skin all over the breast and thighs begin to lift away from the meat. Once you see some good separation, prepare your 5 spice blend (or find your jar of 5 spice), and mix into the 5 spice 2 tablespoons each of sea salt and caster sugar, then coat both the cavity and the outside of the duck heavily in the aromatic rub. Hang the duck again in the fridge for 24 hours.
Now its time to boil down your glaze made from the Shaoxing wine, black rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, and honey. Once you've achieved a nice syrup, allow to cool slightly and then ladle over your duck. Repeat this process a few times to get a good glaze and colour on the bird. Hang again in the fridge overnight.
Finally, we get to the cook! Roast the duck at 180C for 40 minutes, then rest for an additional 20. After the rest, bring a small pot of cooking oil up to 190 degrees Celsius and ladle the oil over the bird to crisp up the skin. Time to enjoy all your hard work - we went for the traditional pancake format with carved skin and meat, julienned spring onions, and hoisin sauce (plus a few K94 extras like pickles and a Korean style smashed cucumber salad). Happy cooking!