Rice Cooker, Local Market, Magic!: Recipe for a Peking Duck L’Orange

This is a recipe for every person who has ever longed to make laowai food in their own kitchen without the aid of a proper oven.  I have an immense amount of affection for my roommate: her impeccable taste in home decoration, her love of science distilled for the common man, and most importantly, an admirable, indomitable, true DIY spirit.  This has manifested itself in many ways, not the least of which is her great willingness to try all kinds of electrical appliances native to the Chinese kitchen.   Struck with an insatiable desire to make dishes that would be most optimally finished in an oven, we have two approaches here: 1) throw money at the problem: run out and buy one for 200 RMB-800 RMB (e.g. the jen and christine approach); 2) adapt to local circumstances and optimize existing conditions, such as rice cookers and microwaves (e.g. the roommate approach).

There are no step-by-step photos in this post, because …. there simply was no need.  Alanna used a 30 RMB wok and a 60 RMB rice cooker with two settings.  The ingredients all come from the local Tiankelong supermarket.  Duck legs are often really cheap; these were 7.74 RMB for two.  The stroke of genius was realizing that strips of dried tangerine peel (chenpi 陈皮), found in the bulk foods isle, would make an excellent duck l’orange.  Also found in the Chinese grocery store: a couple of dried shiitake mushrooms that were tossed in, half a bottle of cheapo Great Wall wine that was tippled in (30 RMB/bottle), some orange slices, dried chili peppers.  We had just been to the flower market and bought rosemary and sage plants that were harvested for their leaves, but it isn’t completely necessary.

There are two kinds of citrus in this duck dish: a squeeze of pulpy orange, and dried tangerine peel.  Dried tangerine peel is often sold in tiny little slivers to mix into herbal concoctions and tea.  In TCM thought, it’s believed that the peel warms up the body and increases circulation.  The ‘aged’ tangerine peel is very easy to make at home: just keep the peel from a tangerine, and let it dry in a cool spot.  It lends a lovely depth of flavor to this duck l’orange, a round bitterness that is very different from the tang of fresh citrus peels.

There was brown rice (that, in a silly fashion, was made on the stove as we waited for the duck to finish cooking), but she also bought some roasted sweet potatoes (yams?) on the street from one of those ubiquitous sweet potato vendors.  A couple of cooking cycles on the rice cooker, and in an hour or so, there was juicy duck with mushrooms that had soaked up the rich sauce.  Together, it was a most excellent meal on a frosty evening.

Beijing Duck L’Orange, by Alanna (for two)

• duck legs, two, patted dry with towels
• salt
• 1/2 bottle of wine, about 300 ml
• 5-6 slivers of dried tangerine peel
• 10 or so dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 orange
• 3-4 dried whole chilies
• 4-5 peppercorns
• 1 slice ginger
• 2-3 tablespoons of honey
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 sprigs of sage
• water

To serve with rice, barley, sweet potato….

1. Salt the duck legs generously on both sides.
2. Heat up a large pan (such as a wok) until it is very hot, but not smoking.  You can add a little oil to prevent sticking, but not much is required.  When the pan is hot, place the duck legs skin side down, then turn the heat down to medium.  Do not move the legs much.  Let the fat render out.  At the same time, the legs should be turning crispy and golden.  When there’s a nice crust, flip the legs and brown nicely on the other side.
3. Remove the legs to the rice cooker bowl.  Drain out the fat and save for making  potatoes with duck fat!
4. Turn the heat back up to high.  Add the red wine and tangerine peels.  Cook until it has been reduced to about 2/3 or so.  Or 1/2.  The tangerine peel should be plump and rehydrated and luscious.
5. Pour the red wine over the duck legs.
6. Squeeze the orange and pulp over the duck, and add mushrooms, ginger, honey, chilies, peppercorns, and herbs.
7. If the wine doesn’t reach 3/4 of the way over the duck, add water until the duck legs are almost covered (as shown in the photo).
8. Hit cook on your rice cooker.  This cooked for one cycle, and then was braised very slowly for about another 30 minutes on the ‘warm’ setting.  The meat should be thoroughly cooked through when it ’shrinks’ away from the bone, and one can always jab at it with a chopstick or butter knife.

Magic!

photos courtesy of alanna