Fork-Roast Duck
A classic Zhejiang specialty: duck roasted to a deep reddish-brown with crisp skin and tender meat, served with lotus leaf pancakes and sweet bean sauce.
Ingredients
Beijing stuffed duck (slaughtered and plucked; refer to roast duck slaughtering method)
1 whole (approximately 1.5–2 kg)
Dried lotus leaves (soak in warm water until soft, then chop finely)
5–6 pieces
Sichuan peppercorns
7–8 pieces
Maltose (dilute with 5 times its volume of water)
50 g
Scallion segments
60 g
Ginger slices (as stated in the original; suspected error)
520 g
Instructions
1
Preparing the duck
Take the slaughtered and plucked stuffed duck. Cut 3–4 cm openings under the wings on both sides, insert your right index and middle fingers, and remove the entrails. At the bends of the duck legs and wings, chop off the duck feet and wing tips respectively, then wash clean.
2
Stuffing the duck
Soak the dried lotus leaves in warm water until soft, then chop them. Mix with the scallions, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns, and stuff into the duck's cavity through the opening.
3
Skewering
Use a special iron fork to pierce from the inner root of the duck leg through to the shoulder (without piercing through). Then pinch the tines together, pass them through the neck, lay the head horizontally across the two tines of the fork, and let the tines protrude 18–20 cm from the head.
4
Glazing
Repeatedly (5–6 times) pour boiling water over the duck body to make the skin swell. Then dilute the maltose with 5 times its volume of water and brush a layer onto the duck. Place in a ventilated area to dry.
5
Roasting
Mount the duck on the fork over burning charcoal. First roast the side (rib) areas, then the back, and finally the breast, until the entire duck turns date-red and is cooked through.
6
Slicing and plating
Wipe the roasted duck with a clean cloth. Then slice the duck skin into pieces 5 cm long and 3 cm wide, and slice the duck meat into thin pieces 3 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and 0.5 cm thick.
