So I’m back.  It seems that for the past couple of weeks, there’s always been something more compelling to do than cook.  Or maybe it has to do with the impending departure of W, who’s been my very dependable sous chef for the last 5 years.  Knowing I’d have to spend a lot more time in the kitchen after she leaves (in training someone new to take her place) may have caused me to subconsciously make other things a priority for now.

Anyway, today I got up and decided that for dinner, we’d have home-cooked Roast Duck, Broccoli with Conpoy Sauce and steamed white rice.

I decided to tweak the Chinese Roast Duck recipe which had been on the very first post on this blog. The objective was to improve on flavour (ie. make it more to my personal taste), lock in more moisture and shorten cooking time. Glad to report that it was met on all 3 counts.  Ingredients were the same, except that for the glaze, I reduced the vinegar to 1/8 cup and the honey to 2 tbs; and added hua teow chew.  Method of cooking was changed.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

As for Chinese Roast Duck recipe, but for glaze, reduce vinegar to 1/8 cup,  reduce honey to 2 tbs, and add 1 tbs hua teow chew (Chinese rice wine) (You may omit this if you don’t have it).  Additional ingredient: 1 tbs butter for brushing on skin towards the end of roasting.

Method

“Butterfly” duck by removing backbone and spreading it out.  You may wish to break part of the breastbone, to get the duck to spread out better.
Pat dry duck with paper towels and rub dry marinade all over and under skin, as well as on the underside.
Place aromatics on a baking tray, place duck on top with skin side up, covering the aromatics.  Pat the duck skin dry with paper towels.
Place baking tray in oven preheated to 220C in middle rack.  Place another tray in lower rack with 1-2 inches depth of water.
Roast duck for 15 minutes at 220C.
Meantime, put glaze ingredients in small saucepan and bring to boil then remove from heat.
After 15 mins of roasting, brush on glaze.
Return to oven to roast at 200C for 20 minutes, then glaze again.
Reduce temperature to 150C and continue roasting for 35 mins.
Remove from oven and brush some butter over the skin.  You may also baste with the fat which has rendered from the duck which is now in the baking tray. Now turn up temperature to 220C and roast for 15 minutes more to get skin crackly.
Remove from oven and allow to stand for at least 15 minutes before chopping it up and serving.

Enjoy!