Pressed duck, the project

Greetings fellow chowists,

After a particularly brutal fall catering season at the club, I'm looking forward to what else...doing some cooking at home.

I've just completed the first two steps of making pressed duck from Barbara Tropp's Mastering the Art...

After splitting the duck in half, you salt and then marinate with sherry or Chinese rice wine. The duck halves are then simmered for just over an hour with ginger, scallion, and star anise.

The duck is then cooled before being boned. An interesting technique in the recipe is one which facilitates utilization of all the little scraps of meat from the neck and wings. You lift the cooked skin away from the breast and thigh meat and tuck all the little slivers inside.

The boned duck halves are now wrapped in wax paper and resting between two pyrex pie pans with about 20 lbs of Le Creuset saucepans as weights.

(Which reminds me of a trick taught to me many years ago by a crusty old hotel chef. When butchering filet mignons, and coming up short by weight (say seven instead of eight ounces), Dan would cut a pocket into the steak and insert an ounce piece of tenderloin tail. Brilliant!)

The duck is then coated with lightly whipped egg white before being dredged in a mixture of warter chestnut flour and cornstarch and then steamed for thirty minutes.

At that point it can be held refrigerated or frozen before bing deep fried until crisp.

I like your approach, Ron. When all else fails, make it yourself. I did the same with almond fried chicken shortly after you posted your first pressed post on Chowhound a couple of years ago. It was reasonably like what I ate as a child at Chinese American restaurants growing up in the south. Even down to the homemade "brown gravy".

How do you plan to sauce your duck?

Will,

Barbara recommended sort of a sweet and sour sauce made with canned pineapple and so on, with almond slices sprinkled on top.

I may go the Chinese brown gravy route.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Greetings fellow chowists,

After a particularly brutal fall catering season at the club, I'm looking forward to what else...doing some cooking at home.

I've just completed the first two steps of making pressed duck from Barbara Tropp's Mastering the Art...

Evil,

I believe that's what's referred to as a busman's holiday.

I just read Tropp's recipe, sounds so delicious I may have to duck out today and buy myself a duck or two. Since you will be frying anyway, I might suggest another of Tropp's recipes, Spicy Fish Toasts from China Moon Cookbook.

Spicy Fish Toast is light, from the addition of whipped egg whites, with a wonderful crunch, not only from frying, but also fresh waterchestnuts.

Enjoy,
Gary

Spicy Fish Toast
Page #205
China Moon Cookbook
Barbara Tropp

Birthday Duck (Pressed Duck)
Page #175
The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking
Barbara Tropp

Conclusion of the Pressed Duck Project:

So, two nights ago I steamed the two boneless duck halves after having coated them with lightly beaten egg white and then a dredging in half corn starch and half water chestnut starch. Coming out of the steamer, the duck almost looked as though there was a light yet gummy coating, but as the duck cooled off, the coating became more crystalline in feel and appearance. Sort of like sugar in a way. I then wrapped them up and into the fridge for a few days.

This evening, I fried them up in peanut oil and served them with the pineappley sweet and sour sauce that Barbara Tropp suggests. The coating on this duck is some of the crispiest, crunchiest stuff you will ever taste, and I realize now why my memories of the dish were so vivid. This is some tasty stuff.

...and on to the next stop on my busman's holiday!

One quick question... What did you use to deep fry the duck? I was thinking of trying this duck, but I wasn't sure if it would fit in my dutch oven...

Thanks!

Evil Ronnie wrote:Conclusion of the Pressed Duck Project:

So, two nights ago I steamed the two boneless duck halves after having coated them with lightly beaten egg white and then a dredging in half corn starch and half water chestnut starch. Coming out of the steamer, the duck almost looked as though there was a light yet gummy coating, but as the duck cooled off, the coating became more crystalline in feel and appearance. Sort of like sugar in a way. I then wrapped them up and into the fridge for a few days.

This evening, I fried them up in peanut oil and served them with the pineappley sweet and sour sauce that Barbara Tropp suggests. The coating on this duck is some of the crispiest, crunchiest stuff you will ever taste, and I realize now why my memories of the dish were so vivid. This is some tasty stuff.

...and on to the next stop on my busman's holiday!

Ronnie,

You're killing me. As you know, I am duck's bitch.

CrazyC,

I used my 9" (or is it 8?) Le Creuset skillet to fry the duck. All but the smallest Dutch ovens would be fine. It's amazing how compact the duck halves turned out to be.

SteveZ,

If you like the way the duck sounds, you'll love what I served with the duck. Antonius' post on cabbage inspired me to do my own version of smothered cabbage...cooked down with sliced onion in a big spoonful of Paulina Market's goose schmaltz mit griebenes. Salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Outbleepingrageous!

Evil Ronnie wrote:SteveZ,

If you like the way the duck sounds, you'll love what I served with the duck. Antonius' post on cabbage inspired me to do my own version of smothered cabbage...cooked down with sliced onion in a big spoonful of Paulina Market's goose schmaltz mit griebenes. Salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Outbleepingrageous!

Sounds wonderful. About the only version of pressed duck I've been able to find that's worth a damn is at Pekin House on Devon. They serve it two ways, with Ameri-Chinese sweet & sour sauce or with brown gravy. It used to be pretty good, but in the last couple of years their food has been going downhill in general. I'll bet yours was head & shoulders (or should I say beak & wing) above what they are presently serving.