This roasted braised duck recipe is so good. With a few special ingredients and a little time, you’ll have an amazing, special dinner on your hands.
After living in Beijing for three years, I’ve had many versions of Peking Duck, and I can honestly say that I’m not that crazy about it. How can I say that, you ask? How could I not love the pride and joy of the Beijing?
Well, the thing about Peking duck is…it doesn’t really have a lot of flavor. There, I said it. Everyone tells me that the duck is roasted in an oven fueled by fruit wood, which is supposed to infuse the meat with fruit flavor that I can never smell or taste. If it weren’t for the sauce and the fixings, it would be way to boring. Yeah, the duck is crispy. But where’s the flavor?
In my opinion, Cantonese roast duck is the best but how to cook duck like that at home? While it’s almost impossible to do that dish justice at home, here’s a recipe that comes pretty close and show you how to cook a duck that is super tasty.
Roasted Braised Duck: Recipe Instructions
Rinse the duck inside and out and thoroughly pat dry. Remove the tail. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium heat, and swirl it around to coat the wok.
Lower the duck into the wok breast side down, and let the skin brown and crisp up slightly.
Spoon the oil over the parts of the duck that aren’t touching the oil. You will end up with a lot more oil than you started with, as the fat renders out of the duck. Turn off the heat.
In a large pot (big enough to accommodate the duck laying flat) over medium heat, add a tablespoon of the fat from the wok, and cook the ginger and garlic for about 1 minute. Stir in the rock sugar until it’s melted.
Add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, star anise, cloves, bay leaves, whole peppercorns, dried orange peel, 3 cups water and the duck. The liquid should come up about halfway up the duck. Add a little more water as needed.
Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes, flipping the bird every 15 minutes to make sure it cooks evenly.
Carefully lift the duck out and drain all the liquid from the cavity, Place the duck on a V-rack or roasting rack set on a baking sheet. breast side up. Brush the duck all over with honey water. Set aside and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Roast the duck for 12-15 minutes, until the skin is crispy. Watch it closely to prevent burning. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. You can serve it just like that, or with some of the sauce left over in the pot.
I actually cooked another dish using the sauce the next day: napa cabbage and cellophane noodles. Just cut the cabbage into strips and stir-fry in a bit of oil. Add the softened cellophane noodles and stir. Then add the leftover sauce, cover, and cook for a couple minutes. Season with salt to taste, and serve. Yum.’
Roasted Braised Duck
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb. duck (innards removed)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 5 slices fresh ginger
- 6 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
- 1 tablespoon rock sugar (or regular sugar)
- ½ cup Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
- 1 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
- ¼ cup light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 star anise
- 6 cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 12 whole peppercorns
- 4-5 pieces dried orange peel
- 3-4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon honey (mixed with 1 teaspoon warm water)
Instructions
- Rinse the duck inside and out and thoroughly pat dry. Remove the tail. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium heat, and swirl it around to coat the wok.
- Lower the duck into the wok breast side down, and let the skin brown and crisp up slightly. Spoon the oil over the parts of the duck that aren’t touching the oil. You will end up with a lot more oil than you started with, as the fat renders out of the duck. Turn off the heat.
- In a large pot (big enough to accommodate the duck laying flat) over medium heat, add a tablespoon of the fat from the wok, and cook the ginger and garlic for about 1 minute. Stir in the sugar until it’s melted.
- Add the cooking wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, anise, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, dried orange peels, 3 cups water and the duck. The liquid should come up about halfway up the duck. Add a little more water as needed.
- Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes, flipping the bird every 15 minutes to make sure it cooks evenly.
- Carefully lift the duck out and drain all the liquid from the cavity, Place the duck on a V-rack set on a baking sheet. breast side up. Brush the duck all over with honey water. Set aside and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Roast the duck for 12-15 minutes, until the skin is crispy. Watch it closely to prevent burning. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. You can serve it just like that, or with some of the sauce leftover in the pot.
I made this recipe a year ago and the duck was very tasty and the flavors were all there, but I, like others commenting, struggled to get the desired color/roasting texture on the duck after braising it for an hour. So I came up with an alternative: as opposed to braising/finishing in the oven, I opted to marinate the duck in the braising liquid and then went for a full roast in the oven. So for the marinade, I slighlty increased the liquid portions of the wine and soy sauces, kept the same amounts for the aromatics, and used maybe 1/2 cup of chicken stock to help with the volume, but I don’t think it was needed in the end for a 5-6 lb duck. I let that marinate for roughly 18 hours, and then roasted it in a v-rack. For this, I just googled “how to roast a whole duck” and this was what I found – 1. Oven at 425, roast breast side up for 15 minutes; 2. Lower to 350 and roast for 45 minutes; 3. Flip and roast for 35 minutes; 4. Flip and roast for 15-20 minutes or until done. It’s important to prick the skin of the duck in order to let the fat render out. It came out really well for me, and I hope someone else finds this useful!
I’ve done this recipe before for myself, and now it will be served to friends on Ducky day! Due to lack of a few ingredients, (no Asian store in my vicinity) I had to improvise a bit. Still delicious!
That’s awesome! Good job, Andre.
Thanks for this recipe – looking forward to trying it out! I don’t have a roasting rack, so would it be possible to do the roasting step in an air fryer since there is a rack?
Try it, hope it will fit inside your air-fryer :-)
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I’ve tried this recipe multiple times and the skin absolutely will not crisps. After braising the whole duck is soggy and it just burns before it crisps. I’ve tried following to the letter, tried a hotter oven, and tried finishing it in the airfryer. No change. It’s a delicious recipe the duck is very moist and flavourful, but it will not crisp
Hi MJ, I agree with you. It’s hard to crisp the skin when the skin is so braised/soften/moist :-)
Try pouring boiled water over the duck (you will see the skin tight up) before you start the process & then refrigerate for a hour or so.
Hope it works for you.
I love the recipe but i often wonder what to eat with it rich or noodles ofcouse but what else ? A few vegi side dish suggestions would be wonderfull in the end of this kind a recipes :)
Hi Mark, it’s our habit to always have a stir-fried green to go with any meal, so we don’t think to suggest veggie side dishes. Please look at this link for your favorite sides.
I had no idea that cadagory existet this place just keeps giving and giving!!!
Thanks alot :)
You are welcome, Mark :-)
I wholly appreciate this lovely recipe Judy! I’m not much of anything in the kitchen but following your direction I was able to cook my family a wonderful entrée.
Wow…thank you so much for trying this recipe! You did really well, Ray. Two thumbs up!