Hangzhou Soy Sauce Duck
The duck is cured, soaked in soy sauce, and sun-dried, producing a glossy, reddish-brown surface with a savory, lightly sweet flavor.
Ingredients
fat duck (make a cut at the vent, remove the innards, wash clean, and air-dry)
1
soy sauce
to taste
sugar
to taste
saltpeter
to taste
cooking wine
to taste
fine salt
to taste
scallion segments
to taste
ginger pieces
to taste
Instructions
1
Curing
Mix salt and saltpeter evenly and rub thoroughly over the duck's body. Then stuff some of the saltpeter-salt into the duck's beak and cavity, twist the duck's head toward its chest, tuck it under the right wing, place it in a vat, cover it with a flat bamboo rack on top, and weigh it down with a large stone. Cure for 36 hours at about 0 degrees C, then turn the duck over and cure for another 36 hours, and air-dry to let the brine drain off.
2
Soy Sauce Soaking
Place the duck back into the vat, pour in soy sauce, and soak for 48 hours, then turn the duck over and soak for another 48 hours. Thread a thin string through one of the duck's nostrils and tie knots at both ends. Bend a thick bamboo strip into an arc and insert it into the duck's cavity with the arc facing up so that the duck is held open.
3
Boiling and Sun-Drying
Then pour the soy sauce used to cure the duck into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the duck and cook until the duck turns red. Sun-dry in direct sunlight for two to three days to finish the soy sauce duck.
4
Serving
To serve, place the soy sauce duck on a large plate, add sugar, wine, scallions, and ginger. Steam over high heat until fine cracks appear on the duck wings, pour out the brine from the cavity, cool, cut into pieces, arrange on a plate, and serve.
