 |
Peking Garden's Peking Duck
Image from FeedTheTang |
Happy Easter everyone! Hope you are enjoying health and time with family.
 |
| Image from FeedTheTang |
Ever wonder what you can do with what's left behind after an amazing peking duck dinner with the family? Last week, we went to Peking Garden at Cityplaza and had a yummy duck for the night, and every time we do we always request for a to-go with the "duck cage", that is the remains of the duck after having all the slices removed.
The cage has a lot of potential and I'm gonna share a couple of possibilities with you so that no food will be wasted.
 |
Duck meat
Image from Locky's English Playground |
First, you want to debone the entire duck cage. This is a very easy step, just put on some plastic gloves and use your hands. Usually I will start with the wings and legs by removing them as a whole, and then work on the rest of the meat on the cage body. Once done, put that away for awhile.
 |
Post-processed duck cage
Image from Locky's English Playground |
You don't want the neck and the butt because there is no meat there, and also, you can chuck away the skin because it is too oily. What's left will not be wasted at all.
 |
In you go!
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Because the best way to handle it will be to use it for cooking soup. I suggest 2.5 litres of water for one duck cage. Since I have two, I made it 5 litres.
 |
Cooking is done in the vacuum pot for hours
Image from Locky's English Playground |
I use a vacuum pot for this soup because it saves me gas, time and money. After high flame boiling for about 15 minutes, I will let the pot to do the rest for the hours to days to come.
 |
Yellow liquid fat / oil on surface.
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Since you need to reheat the soup every half a day, it is best for you to remove the excess fat that you see floating on the surface of the soup.
 |
Chicken and dry fish, why not?
Image from Locky's English Playground |
You may want to add anything extra as you like, such as the chicken you couldn't finish or the dry fish that has been sitting in the cabinet for months. The key is that you need to add a tablespoon of chicken powder and some salt.
After 4 repetitions of reheating and boiling, your broth is done! Now return to the duck meat.
 |
Microwaved and fried! Yum!
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Usually the duck meat has been sitting in the fridge for a day or two, so I will usually use microwave to reheat it to make sure the meat is soften before putting it to a pot or a wok for frying. The key is to add salt to bring out the aroma as the meat does smell excellent but is also quite bland. That's because when you have that dish in the restaurant, they gave you some rich flavour sauce to go with it and so the duck meat need not be particularly salted.
 |
Image from Locky's English Playground
|
After you have done with the frying, don't be silly and start washing the pot or the wok,
 |
Product of "2 days" of cooking
Image from Locky's English Playground |
use the pot to reheat the duck soup, this way, you are adding extra flavour to the soup before it is served.
 |
Duck meat on ho fun (rice fettuccini)?
Image from Locky's English Playground |
To go with the meat, some people like
ho fun (Chinese rice fettucini),
 |
| Image from Locky's English Playground |
or you can have your Hong Kong-style macaroni,
 |
Duck soup macaroni with duck?
Image from Locky's English Playground |
it is really up to you! Just pour in the soup and you have an excellent lunch or
supper which probably costs you HK$50 if you have it at a restaurant, that is, if you can even find one that serves it.
 |
| Image from Locky's English Playground |
You can even use
my pork chop recipe if you have extra duck soup left, or ...
 |
Duck soup rice anyone?
Image from Locky's English Playground |
you have heard of
Hainan chicken rice, right? How about some home-made duck soup rice? So unique that you've got to try it! You will need to condense the soup by 50% before you use the soup for cooking rice though.
Vocabulary:
ho fun (Chinese rice fettucini) -- see Chinese Noodles @ Wikipedia
supper -- (n)[C or U] a main meal eaten in the evening, or a small meal eaten in the late evening:
broth -- (n)[U] a thin soup, often with vegetables or rice in it:
Resources:
Cooking: Locky's Home-made Pork Chop Bun @ Locky's English Playground
Locky's English Playground's Cooking page @ Locky's English Playground
Fettucine @ Wikipedia
Chinese Noodles @ Wikipedia
