Roast duck

I did a roast duck for CNY lunch for 9 people (plus steam boat). I read up Cantonese Roast Duck, but didn't have the cojones to try it. Instead I roasted duck like I would roast chicken except that I "chinese-sified" it :-).

Taste was good esp with the gravy. But skin not crispy enough - more on that later.

For the glaze, I did it with 4 tblsp honey, 1 apple vinegar and 1 hoisin sauce.

For the stuffing, it was hoisin, spring onions, ginger, shao xin wine, my orange liquer + 5 spice substitute (cinnamon powder, fennel seeds, anise, pepper, coriander powder). I sewed up the duck opening and left the head on to stop up that opening.

The duck was brined 8 hours and then I dried it and put it in the fridge to dry out overnight.

It doesn't work (the "drying" for the skin). When I pulled it from the fridge, I could see moisture collecting on the skin - condensation from the humid air. I think should have tried the Cantonese Duck style of pouring over boiling water and then hang drying (I desisted coz I didn't have the equipment to hang the duck in cool dry place) or perhaps blow torching the skin prior to putting it in the oven.

The  approx 2.3 kg duck was roasted for about 2 hrs 15 mins at 180C, taken out, applied glaze and then roast at 230 C for about 15 mins. (Internet says 30 mins per pound of duck at 180C).

The gravy was made "western style" but using Shao Xin wine. i.e. 3 tablespoons duck fat + drippings from pan + 3 tablespoons flour + salt + a generous dash of wine and chicken stock (1.5 cups). Gravy was a little thick, but really tasty.

One advantage of doing duck yourself is that you can cut all the fat out. Indeed, the amount of meat left after carving was surprisingly little.