Cheatin’ Pekin’ Duck
JUMP TO:
Intro
Disclaimer: While I don’t condone the dilution of traditional cooking methods from cultures, this recipe was born out of sheer desperation during my college years and then shared with my friends during COVID shutdowns; this also explains why I filed this recipe under Abroad and not Heritage. However, I will discuss how it’s supposed to be made in the Intro and will stay true to the flavors and preparation methods. Because of this, there are no (and will be no) ingredient substitutions; and seriously, there are only a few ingredients so you can just chill.
So this recipe isn’t technically difficult…there are just a lot of things going on the day of so I’ve organized this recipe in order of how you should cook things. If it seems like a lot and/or you’re uncomfortable working with dough (which I still am!), you can easily make the duck just to be enjoyed by itself, over rice, in a sandwich format, in flour tortillas, etc.
Now the traditional way of making Peking duck (not to be confused with the actual duck breed called Pekin) involves separating the skin from the meat with air pumped in so that the skin becomes extra crispy and requires the whole bird to be hung up and roasted for a long period of time…I don’t know about you but this just isn’t possible where I live haha. I replicate the skin separation step in this recipe but opt to up the flavor by marinating overnight. Normally, Peking duck is more focused on the skin and benefits from flavor concentration from the long period of cooking so I compensated with the marinade in this recipe.
Leaving the duck breast, skin-side up, uncovered in the fridge overnight helps dry out the skin more, which will yield a super crispy and lacquered crust; plus you let the meat soak in the marinade overnight as well so all of that leads to a super tasty and (relatively) easy meal!
Just a few more notes:
I buy my duck from an online shop called D’Artagnan; I’ve been able to find duck at local butchers and even some higher-end grocery stores, but I like buying from them because they specialize in gamey birds. They also have sales/deals regularly
I buy Moulard Magret or Rohan duck; check out this handy infographic from D’Artagnan and you’ll see I’ve optimized for flavor and skin thickness. Since the different duck types vary so much in size, this is also why I note final weight of the duck breasts
I do not get paid by D’Artagnan in any way (lol); I just like them
While I normally NEVER eat meat that’s more done than medium rare, this recipe is the exception — if you don’t cook until a full medium, the meat will be too chewy
SAVE THE RENDERED DUCK FAT
What You'll Need
Enough for ~ 3 people:
For the duck marinade:
Marinade ingredients
2 Moulard Magret duck breasts (mine were ~ 22 oz total)
¼ tsp salt + more for sprinkling
4 TBSP soy sauce
4 TBSP Shaoxing wine
Heaping 1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder + more for sprinkling
For the pancakes (makes~ 18 pancakes):
2 cups AP flour
½ tsp salt
½ cup boiling hot water + ¼ cup cold water
Rendered duck fat (from this recipe) for greasing pan
For toppings:
1 hot house cucumber, julienned*
3 scallions, halved and thinly sliced
Hoisin sauce
* From a 13 oz cucumber, I used ~ 5 oz of it
Instructions
Marinade the duck (24 hrs before):
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl
Pat your duck dry very well and take a chopstick (or anything that’s that general shape and size) and insert it from one end to the other (length-wise) under the skin so that the chopstick separates the meat from the skin down the center of the length of each duck breast
Dunk the duck breasts into the marinade and massage into all sides well, try to get some of the marinade under the skin as well; in a flat container or plate with raised edges, pour in the marinade and place the duck breasts skin-side up; if there is any marinade in contact with the skin, drain some off until the skin is completely dry
Use a fresh paper towel and pat the skin so it’s not obviously wet and sprinkle a little kosher salt and five spice powder over the skin^
Leave to marinate UNCOVERED in your fridge overnight
^ I highly recommend coarse kosher salt (or a coarse salt if you don’t have kosher salt) because the point here is to suck up moisture, not make it saltier; if you don’t have a kosher and/or coarse salt, just skip this
The day of:
Prepare the pancake dough first:
Mix the flour and salt together in a heatproof bowl and prepare your boiling and cold waters; using chopsticks or a fork to quickly stir the entire time, slowly add in the boiling water first; then repeat with the cold water and continue to mix
Once the dough is cool enough to handle, knead until the dough is smooth (took me about 7-10 min); cover with a wet towel or plastic wrap and let sit on the counter/at room temp for at least 1 hour
Kneading the dough
The dough is ready to rest!
Pancake babies
As the dough is resting, cut up your cucumber, scallions
Your duck breasts should be crispy and have a nice lacquer once you flip them
Sear the duck:
Pat the duck dry and heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat
Once the skillet is hot enough, add your duck breasts skin-side down (I added both breasts into my 10” skillet with no issue); after a minute or so, turn the heat down to medium and let cook, untouched, for 5 minutes
Flip the duck, making all sides get a good sear and let cook meat-side down for 2 more minutes; turn off the heat and remove the skillet from the heat; taking extreme caution, pour out the rendered duck fat into a heatproof container to be used later
Make pancakes and broil the duck:
Preheat your oven to 375 and on a lightly floured surface, roll out the pancake dough into a cigar ~1” in diameter; cut this into 18 equal pieces
Use your palm to gently flatten the dough pieces and using your rendered duck fat, lightly brush the top halves of all the dough pieces and layer two pieces on top of each other with the oiled sides touching → you’ll have 9 of these “stacks”
When the oven is done heating up, put the skillet into the oven on the middle rack (the duck should still be skin-side up) and set a timer for 5 minutes; when these 5 min are up turn off your oven, remove the duck from the oven and let cool off & rest as you continue to make the pancakes
Heat up a (preferably non-stick) pan over medium-low heat and roll out each of the “stacks” into ~ 7 - 8” pancakes (I’ve found it’s helpful to flip the stack every now and then while rolling so it’s more even)
Once you’re done rolling these “stacks” out, lightly brush some rendered duck fat in the pan and place one pancake “stack” into the pan; after 40 seconds you should notice a bubble between the two pancakes begin to form, flip it now and let that pancake/side cook for another 40 seconds $
Remove this cooked stack from the pan, separate the two pancakes, put them onto a large plate and cover with a clean kitchen towel as you cook the rest of the pancake stacks
Once you’re done with the pancakes, the duck should have cooled off and set by now so you can slice them up (remember these should be medium - medium well done)
$ You’ll know they’re done when they have these nice brown patches (not too many, though, or they’ll just be hard and crispy instead of chewy)
How to Enjoy!
Putting it all together, I’d recommend:
Take a pancake and spread some Hoisin sauce on it
Add some of the julienned scallions and cucumber
Place 4 - 5 pieces of the sliced duck in the center of the pancake and then wrap it up like a burrito (where the bottom is folded up first and then the sides) to prevent droppage while eating
Did you make this? Submit your picture for a chance to be featured!
(Click IG icon to DM or Contact icon to email your picture)
