Phoenix Spreading Wings
A classic crafted dish from the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, featuring Beijing roast duck as the main ingredient, accompanied by eggs and vegetables arranged into the shape of a phoenix spreading its wings.
Ingredients
Beijing stuffed duck
1
Eggs (separate yolks and whites)
8
Cucumber
500 g (about 4)
Golden hawthorn cake (carved into phoenix crown shapes)
50 g
Carrot
250 g
Quail eggs (steamed)
12
Butter
40 g
Bread (cut into oval slices)
50 g
Cherries (carved into eyes)
2
Cooking wine
5 g
Fine salt
1 g
Braising broth (for braising the duck)
1500 g
Scallion
50 g
Ginger
25 g
Cinnamon bark
15 g
Star anise
10 g
Sesame oil
15 g
White sugar
5 g
Instructions
1
Steaming the Egg Cakes
Crack the egg yolks and egg whites separately into two bowls and beat them. Add a small amount of cooking wine, fine salt, and water to each bowl and stir well. Pour each into a flat square iron mold lined with parchment paper, steam over boiling water until cooked through, then remove from the molds and parchment, and let cool to make egg yolk cake and egg white cake.
2
Preparing the Cucumber Skin
Rinse 3 cucumbers with water, cut into 2-inch segments, then slice off the cucumber skin. Place the cucumber skin in a bowl, add a pinch of fine salt and marinate for 5 minutes, drain off the liquid, then add a small amount of sesame oil and mix well.
3
Preparing the Carrots
Peel the outer skin from the carrots, wash clean, cut lengthwise in half, place in a bowl, add a pinch of fine salt and marinate for 10 minutes, drain off the liquid, and add a small amount of sesame oil and mix well.
4
Marinating the Cucumber Strips
Rinse 1 cucumber with water, cut lengthwise in half, place in a bowl, add a pinch of fine salt and marinate for 5 minutes, drain the liquid thoroughly, and add a small amount of sesame oil and mix well.
5
Braising the Stuffed Duck
Open the stuffed duck from the tail end, remove the organs, chop off the duck feet, and rinse off the blood. Place the duck in a pot of water and cook until about half-tender, then remove. In another pot, add the braising broth and scallion-ginger segments, bring to a boil over high heat, add the duck, braise over low heat for about 30 minutes, then remove. Coat the duck skin with a layer of sesame oil to make the soy-braised duck.
6
Deboning and Shredding
Use a knife to split the soy-braised duck vertically along the back, remove the duck bones, reserve a portion of the duck skin, and cut the remaining duck skin and meat into strips about 1 inch 2 fen long.
7
Steaming the Quail Eggs
Take 12 soup spoons, coat each with a layer of sesame oil, crack one quail egg into each, steam over boiling water until cooked, then remove. Run a small knife around the edge of each spoon and lift out the cooked quail eggs.
8
Cutting and Shaping
Cut the egg yolk cake, egg white cake, pickled cucumber skin, and soy-braised duck skin into strips about 2 inches 5 fen long, 3 fen wide at one end and pointed at the other. Use a small knife to carve the pickled cucumber strips into phoenix beaks and claws, carve the golden hawthorn cake into phoenix crown shapes, and carve the cherries into eyes. Cut the remaining cucumber strips and carrot strips into comb-shaped pieces about 5 fen wide. Cut the remaining cucumber skin into four 1-inch long thin strips.
9
Making the Wing Garnishes
Cut the bread into two oval slices. Melt the butter with a small amount of hot water, add the white sugar, stir until thickened, and spread the mixture on the two bread bases. Place half a cherry on top of each, and arrange two cucumber skin thin strips on each side of the cherry.
10
Assembling the Platter
Place the soy-braised duck shreds in the center of a large fish-shaped platter, arranging them into the shape of a phoenix spreading its wings. Then arrange the five-colored strips in a crisscross feather pattern, and add the beak, claws, eyes, and crown. Arrange the cucumber and carrot comb pieces into two tails, lay the cooked quail eggs along the length on top, and place a buttered bread base at each tail tip.
