Recipe Of The Day: National Peking Duck Day

Today let us rejoice in the great Holiday that National Peking Duck Day. Ok maybe that is a bit much. But Duck is incredible. People either seem to love it or hate it and if they haven’t had a perfectly seasoned and cooked Duck, they most likely will hate it. Then they usually start going off about other foods they hate and well the story goes downhill from there.

That is why we here The Supreme Plate, are glad that Peking Duck has its own day, that will hopefully entice people to give it a chance and put it on their plates and in their stomachs.

Something can be said for some crispy duck wrapped inside a warm fresh crepe. For those of you that haven’t had this incredible dish, you might need to be slapped upside the head. Ok we won’t go that far but it is truly some of the most amazing simplistic food you will ever have in your life.

That is to say you can pull off the crepe as it should be done. Don’t overcook the crepe and don’t undercook the Duck that’s just a bad evening waiting to happen at that point. You want to make sure that you have the perfect balance of the crispy skin, sliced Duck meat, scallion, cucumber and Hoisin sauce in your crepe.

Hoisin can be found in most major supermarkets on the Asian foods isle and for those that are leery of buying things they don’t know, Kikkoman makes a nice low sodium version that will work great for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 whole domestic duck (about 5 to 6 pounds)

Kosher Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ cups flour, sifted

I cucumber  (Julienned)

3 to 4 Scallions (Julienned)

2 eggs

2 cups water

Vegetable oil, for pan

1 cup Hoisin Sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the entire duck with salt and pepper.

Place the duck on a roasting pan and roast for 2 hours.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, eggs, and water together.

Whisk until smooth.

Season the batter with salt.

Oil a 6-inch diameter non-stick pan.

Heat the pan over low heat. Pour 1 tablespoon of the batter into the pan.

Let spread over the surface of the pan to form a very thin pancake.

Cook until the pancake is set on top and cooked underneath, about 30 seconds.

Flip the pancake over and continue to cook for 30 seconds.

Pile the cakes on top of each other and cover with a damp towel to keep them moist. Repeat the above process until all of the batter is used.

Remove the duck from the oven and remove the wings and legs.

Carve the remaining meat into thin slices, reserving the skin.

To assemble, smear each pancake with the Hoisin sauce.

Lay the duck slices and crispy skin in the center of each pancake.

Roll the pancakes, tucking the ends in, like an egg roll/envelope.

Garnish each plate with either a leg or wing.