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Title: Szechuan Camphor-Wood And Tea Smoked Duck
Categories: Chinese Poultry Smoke
Yield: 6 Servings

4slRoot ginger
1/2tbPeppercorns
4 To 5 lb duck
1tbSea salt
2tbLard
  SMOKING:
4 To 5 tb dried tea
3tbSugar
1 Bundle camphor wood -- OR
4 To 5 tb camphor wood
  Sawdust
  Some smoldering charcoal
  Wire rack
  Inverted clean kerosene tin
  Or inverted metal du

Shred & chop the ginger. Roast the peppercorns in a dry roasting pan for 10 minutes in a moderate oven; crush and pound them lightly in a mortar. Rub the duck inside and out with half the salt, ginger and pepper. Leave to dry and season overnight. Mix the remaining seasoning with the lard until well-blended. Rub the mixture on the duck inside and out. Place the duck on a wire rack in a preheated moderate oven at about 400 deg (put a drip-pan underneath) and roast for 1 hour. SMOKING: Light the charcoal fire. When the charcoal is glowing red, but not blazing, sprinkle half the tea, sugar and camphor wood (twigs or sawdust) over the fire. Place the duckon a wire rack and suspend it a couple of inches above the fire. Invert the tin or bin over the duck and fire and let smoke for 10 minutes. Turn the duck over for a further 10 minute smoking, sprinkling the rest of the smoking mixture on the fire and poking and stirring it. By now the duck should be sufficiently smoked. Brush it with 2 tb sesame oil and put it in a moderate oven for a further 15 minutes of roasting. Serve by chopping through the bones into 15-20 large bite-size pieces or carve in the western manner. An excellent accompaniment to wine at the start or a multi-course dinner party or banquet. Adapted from a recipe from the Chengtu Dining Rooms, Chengtu. From Chinese Regional Cooking by Kenneth Lo, Pantheon Books, 1979.

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