Salt-Water Duck

[This is a Nanking dish and is courtesy; How To Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao.]

One 5-7 lb. duck
3-4 tbsns. salt
1 tspn. Szechwan pepper (Chinese name is chu'un-tsiu or fa-tsui, or substitute Cinnamon.)
8 cups water

Mix the pepper with the salt and rub it all over the duck, both inside and out. Put the duck in a pan and cover with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.

After 2 days and a day before you want to serve this dish, take the duck out of the refrigerator and rinse the salt/pepper mixture off. Fill a large pot with water and when the water is boiling, place the duck into the water and reduce to medium heat. Boil the duck for an hour, or if it was young and tender, only 40 minutes. After cooking, cool the duck and then place it back in the refridgerator. It is excellent cold. Take it out the next day and cut it up and enjoy. It will only keep for three days, if it lasts that long.

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