COOKBOOK: Man Food - Billy Law
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Speechless!! The fear of ruining this wonderful dish scared me to death. I love my duck so I kept all my fingers crossed that this recipe was well written and not turn into a flop.
Duck in Australia is not cheap & not only pricy but difficult to find at your local butcher. You'll need to do a little searching.
The smoking method to cook duck is new to me. This was going to be challenging. I didn't have a wok with a recessed tray and a large enough lid to contain the smoke so I had to improvise. The rack cost me a few dollars and it did the trick. I used foil to contain the smoke and guess what!!!??? ......it cooked beautifully! Omg the taste was out of this world!
RECIPE: I couldn't find jasmine tea so I substituted it with chai tea. I wasn't able to find loose tea leaves ( green & chai) so I bought the tea bags and tediously ripped each bag and collected the tea for the smoking mixture.
SMOKING DUCK: I know that a good cook doesn't overcook their meat. Rare is better I say. I left the duck smoking for a further 10mins and I think I made it just right for all to enjoy.( I have a bunch of meat eaters who don't eat anything other than 'well done' )
Man Food!?? What were they thinking when they added this recipe to this cookbook!! The smoking duck deserves more recognition than that!! No one buying a cookbook with this title will be expecting to see a smoking duck recipe! This was a top notch dish. It was one of the best dishes I've made in a very long time. It should be published in a more appropriate cookbook.
RECIPE
SERVES 4
4 duck breasts
salt
1 litre (4cups) vegetable oil
200g green tea soba noodles
60ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce
60ml (1/4 cup) mirim
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 long cucumber, julienned
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally and thinly
TEA SMOKING MIX
185g (1cup) jasmine rice
30g (1/2 cup) jasmine tea leaves
30g (1/2 cup) green tea leaves
5 star anise
1 cinnamon stick - broken in small pieces
1 tablespoon pepper
4 pieces dried mandarin peel or fresh orange peel
230g (1 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
Score the skin of the duck breasts, then season with salt all over. Place the duck breasts skin side down in a frying pan and place the pan over a medium - high heat. Cook the duck for 10mins to render most of the fat out, tipping the fat out while cooking. Transfer the breasts to a plate and set aside.
To smoke the duck, line the base of a wok with foil, place the combines smoking mix ingredients on top and turn the heat to medium. Put a wire rack over the smoking mix then place the duck on top. Once it starts smoking, cover the wok, turn the heat down to low and smoke for 10mins. tun the duck and smoke for a further 10mins. Remove the duck and set aside.
Discard the smoking mix, then pour the vegetable oil into the wok and heat over medium-high heat until its is very hot. (test it with a piece of bread) . Take two of the breasts at a time, place them on the wire mesh which should still be on the wok and spoon with a metal ladle hot oil over the duck pieces until the skin is crispy. Drain the duck on paper towel. Rest for 10mins, then thinly slice.
Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan half filled with water to a boil. Drop the noodles in and cook for about 5minutes. Drain and run cold water over the noodles to stop the cooking process. Shake off excess water and transfer the noodles to a large bowl. Add the soy sauce, minim, sesame oil and ginger to the noodles. Toss to mix well.
To serve, divide the noodles among serving bowls. Top with cucumber and slice of duck. Garnish with sesame seeds and spring onion.
COOKBOOK:
