Grandma’s Duck Recipes

 

A wonderful friend popped over last week to give me a duck.

“A friend gave it to me,” she said, “and I really don’t know what to do with it. So I thought of you.”

Best. Friend. Ever.

I knew exactly what to do with a duck. Call Grandma.

Some people think duck too gamey. I beg to differ. In the soup, for example, I find it rather delicate. This one duck was enough to feed three adults and five kids (yes, even the one year old got stuck into it) because the duck goes a long way in the soup and on the pancakes. We even had enough soup left over to send a bowl of it home with Grandma for Grandad.

This post is actually made up of three recipes – roast duck, duck soup and duck pancakes. Any one of these could be done alone without the other two. For example, you could buy a cooked duck from an Asian market or maybe a duck breast instead of a whole duck. But for us, the adventure was in cooking it all from scratch while sipping cups of tea and chatting. A wonderful afternoon with the tastiest reward for our efforts.

 

GRANDMA’S ROAST DUCK

You will need:

Whole duck

2 gloves of garlic, halved

3 shallots, chopped

3cm ginger, sliced thinly

1/2 cup dry sherry

1 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

STEP ONE. Combine garlic, shallots, ginger, sherry, soy sauce, sugar, stock and water in a large pot and bring to the boil.

STEP TWO. Place duck into the pot, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then turn and simmer for another 15 minutes.

STEP THREE. Remove duck from pot, place in a roasting pan, cover and refrigerate. SEE NOTE BELOW.

STEP FOUR. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

STEP FIVE. Pierce skin all over and roast duck for 30 minutes, turn and roast for another 40 minutes.

NOTE: if cooking Grandma’s Duck Soup, strain liquid, add 1/4 teaspoon of Chinese five spice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt flakes. If not cooking the soap, this liquid makes a lovely broth to serve with the roasted duck.

 

GRANDMA’S DUCK SOUP

You will need:

Cooked duck

3 cups chicken stock

6 cups water

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 clove garlic, crushed

5cm ginger, sliced thinly

150g dried rice stick noodles

1 bunch broccoli stems, chopped small

2 shallots, sliced thinly

1 teaspoon sesame oil

NOTE – if you’ve cooked Grandma’s Roast Duck above you can add 1/4 cup of the liquid for a super flavour boost to the soup

STEP ONE. Remove skin and meat from the duck, chop into small bits.

STEP TWO. Chop up the bones and place in pan with stock, water, star anise, cinnamon, garlic and ginger. If available, add the liquid from Grandma’s Roast Duck. Boil, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

STEP THREE. Strain liquid and return to stove top. Add broccoli stems and boil until they’re tender.

STEP FOUR. Place noodles in a heatproof bow, cover with boiling water, stand for five minutes.

STEP FIVE. Pierce skin all over and roast duck for 30 minutes, turn and roast for another 40 minutes.

STEP SIX. Add shallots, duck, sesame oil and noodles to soup.

STEP SEVEN. Enjoy the silence broken only the more uncouth in the family slurping their dinner.

 

GRANDMA’S DUCK PANCAKES

You will need:

Cooked duck

20 Chinese pancakes

1/4 cup plum sauce

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced thinly

2 shallots, sliced thinly

 STEP ONE. Remove skin and meat from the duck, chop roughly.

STEP TWO. Combine plum and hoisin sauce.

STEP THREE. Heat pancakes ever so slightly in oven.

STEP FOUR. Set out ingredients on table for people to make up pancakes – spread the sauce mix on pancake, add duck, cucumber and shallots.

STEP FIVE. Eat faster. These do not last long. If you close your eyes to really soak up the flavours, by the time you open them they might all be gone.

 

The old duck checking out the ol’ duck.

 

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