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. 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. 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’ve made this twice, and while the flavors are what I expect, I cannot get it to “look” dark. My thoughts: Maybe I have too much water in the braising? Or should i increase the portions of sauce?
This also has gone perfectly with the Lotus Leaf Buns (like in restaurants)
Dilemma: one duck isn’t enough for a dinner main course for 4. Cooking two ducks logistically infeasible. Yet this is such a great dish. Maybe serve it with vegetarian duck? No matter. I’m going to make it anyway? From a huge fan on the other side of the world.
Yes, Roz, serve it with a couple of other vegetable dishes like cooked romaine.
I made this for dinner tonight. My husband said it’s a good as what we pick up in the International District (Seattle).
Wow! Thank you for your high praise.
This is my 5th time making it LOVE it every time i love how accurate the recipe is! THANK YOU
Awesome, Jannette, thank you for your lovely comment.
Just in the oven. Smells wonderful. Thanks for the hint about Peking duck. Will use your idea about the sauce, too.
Your daughter’s recipe for fluffy cinnamon rolls is outstanding. Please tell her thanks. And my son and neighbors thank her, too.
Will let her know, Pat, and thank you so much for trying out our recipes. It means a lot to us :-)
Great recipe. Made this with Kimlan Lou Chau dark soy sauce, so I wasn’t able to get the same dark color (I’ll try the pearl sauce next time). I also didn’t have the V-rack, so while half the skin crisped up nicely, the other half was still a bit soggy. It was still incredibly delicious!
I found that reducing the braising liquid improved it as a dipping sauce/serving it over rice. Still have a ton of it left and will probably try that napa cabbage stir fry tomorrow.
“Yayyy” for a job well done, Jason!
Hi Judy – Can you provide some guidance on timing if I just wanted to use duck breasts?
With duck breast, please refer to Bill’s recipe for cooking times. Maybe it’s a better idea to follow his recipe to cook just duck breast.
Until I found your website, I used to have about 6 dishes up my sleeve. Since, I’ve done a load of your recipes and I thank you for expanding my repertoire.
This Roasted Braised Duck I will attempt soon. Any hints on how to chop it up for serving?
Thanks a lot and keep up the great work.
Hi Graham, please refer to our post on how to chop a whole chicken as a guide.
So excited to make it this Christmas! Is there a way to braise it in an instant pot if you don’t have a big enough pot though?
Sure, Sandy, you just need to control the heat level to mimic the stove.