Teochow braised duck

I don't know about you but I find I turn to blogs as much as cookbooks when looking for recipes these days. People odd enough to bother setting up a blog dedicated to food are clearly carrying out a labour of love and this is usually apparent in the writing. They also tend often to furnish the recipe with excellent photos - just flicking though Google reader or the like grants access to an enormous, international, multi-authored, open-source cookbook personalised by the stars or bookmarks you have added.

So when I had a duck in the fridge (half price at Co-op, sweet) I had a little dip and came up with Teochow braised duck. The other idea was Fergus Henderson's wonderful (and extremely simple) duck with carrots. I'm gonna do that again next time I guess. For the Teochow braise I liked the idea of putting the ingredients and a pot and basically leaving them for an hour half to relax and simmer away. All I had to pick up on the cycle home (another benefit of the bike - stopping for crucial foodstuffs mid-commute!) was some lemongrass and I was set.

The ingredients are listed in the original post so I won't replicate them: I was fastidious is my following and added only a single chilli as I couldn't bear the thought of all those fine spices within a tiny bit of heat.

After an hour-and-a-half the duck was tender and I removed it to a frying pan to  crisp up the skin while the thin sauce was reduced a little and had some mushrooms added. We ate the heart and liver fried for starters and then the duck with the sauce and some pickled vegetables as suggested in the original link. Unfortunately the rice was that cloudily translucent easy-cook type which went a bit Uncle Ben when cooked and not the proper regal white stuff. The sauce was pretty good, the star anise goes very well with a dash of sweet soy I put in. Not mind blowing though.

I'm sometimes a little scared of poaching or braising birds but this came out wonderfully tender. The fat all rendered out and the finished article was not particularly greasy. I now have a cup of duck fat in the fridge and a bag of potatoes in the cupboard begging me to fry them in it.

The stock from the carcass was deep & ducky on a profound & infrequently achieved level