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Peking Duck

My family has a traditional Christmas dinner that is rather un-traditional...

Peking Duck... happens to be Chinese for "AMAZING NOMS."  (Caps included in translation).
This Chinese dish takes a really long time to make, hence we really only eat it at Christmas, but boy is it worth the work!
It is good stuff.
Now, I must apologize in advance... I don't have too many pictures of the process and all, I kept getting distracted, and it is only by very good luck that I have any pictures at all of the finished product... We had devoured the entire meal, and Morgan was quickly consuming the very last piece when I suddenly remembered that I had no pictures of the finished duck.
He wasn't too thrilled to stop eating his last piece of duck so that I could take pictures of it, but he did, so you do get to see what the duck looks like not raw.
Ok, here we go, Peking Duck as my mommy taught me how to make it:

I. Marinate Him:

1) Make a paste mixture of Chinese 5 Spice and oil
2) Rub the inside of the duck with the paste
3) Rub the outside of the duck with the paste
4) Wrap him up with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night

II. Pop His Skin Out:

1) boil a kettle of water
2) hang the duck (over the sink or outside where it can drip) using wires
3) pour boiling water over the duck until the skin pops away from the meat
4) Let Him dry

III. Make the Paint:

1) caramelize about 1/2 c sugar in a skillet until it's liquid
2) add just enough water to cause it to sizzle up and then turn back into liquid
3) add some soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice
4) Cook till it just starts to thicken up, but not so thick as syrup

IV. Paint Him

1) Using a pastry brush or small paint brush, paint the duck
2) Let him dry and paint it over again every time it dries every 30 minutes or so until you have a good coating - 6 times or so
3) Let the final coating dry on him for several hours

V. Cook Him

1) Heat to oven to 350
2) Roast Him till he is done - depending on how fat he is… maybe  1-1.5 hours? Check to make sure there is no pink liquid… kind of like a chicken. If you can cook him on a roasting rack, that will keep the fat from pooling around his skin.

VI. While he is cooking, prepare the pancakes and fillings

1) Make little round rotis (flour + boiling water, knead well), rolled very very thin (it seems to work best to keep the dough on the soft side for this)
2) cut green onions into strips - some restaurants use cucumbers too, cut into very thin strips
3) Hoisin Sauce (find at your local chinese grocery)


VII. Eat Him

1) Carve Him into thin slices/strips. If the skin separates, that's ok, just set it on one side of the dish and be sure everyone gets a piece of skin in their pancake
2) Serve with onion strips, cucumber strips, Hoisin sauce and Duck in the Pancakes.


To do this, take the pancake and put it on your plate. Take a spoonful of Hoisin sauce and spread it over the pancake. Take strips of duck, duck skin, and onions, and lay them on the pancake. Roll it up. NOM NOM NOM. 

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