Recipe & Pics: Trader Vic's Crispy Duck Squares

we hosted a Trader Vic's Night at the Rongorongo Room. I used recipies from Trader Vic's Pacific Island Cookbook (1968) Here's a pictorial "How To" boil, steam and deep fry ~ its a labor intensive dish!

Ingredients:

Equipment (not shown, deep fryer)

Into the pot ~ I added some star anise and fresh ginger and soy sauce to the poaching liquid

One hour later

Deboned and pressed into a pan

Dusted with waterchestnut powder and into the Steamer

Deep Fried & Served

Recipe:

5 lb Long Island duck, cleaned
1 tb Chinese five-spice powder
1 ts Salt
1 T Soy
1 slices fresh ginger
1 c Water chestnut powder
Boiling water

Sweet and sour plum sauce
1 cup plum sauce
2 T catsup
2 T vinegar

Oil for deep frying
Crushed toasted almonds

Place duck in large kettle or Dutch oven with enough boiling water to cover. Add spices and salt
and simmer covered until tender, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Remove duck from liquid and let cool.

Remove meat from bones and discard skin. Pour chestnut powder into small baking pan (an 8-inch
aluminum pan works well; powder should be 1/2 to 1/4 inch deep). Press meat into powder. Cover and steam 30
minutes, or until powder has gelatinized into thick, heavy crust. Remove from steamer and let cool.

Cover and chill until ready to complete. About 30 minutes before serving time, prepare sweet and sour
plum sauce; set aside and keep warm. Warm a serving platter in low oven. Preheat oil in deep fryer to 375
F. Slice duck into bite-size chunks and fry quickly in batches until crisp and browned. Remove with slotted
spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat until cooking is completed. Serve immediately with sweet and sour
plum sauce topped with nuts.

Chef's notes:
add some star anise and fresh ginger and soy sauce to the poaching liquiduse parchment to line pan when pressing duck.
make sure your pan fits into the steamer
save some poaching liquid to make sure waterchestnut flour is wet
cut into 1" squares = 64 pieces.

"Discard the skin"? Don't they know about the joys of Grattons (or Fritons) de Canard? No Duck Cracklins? What's the best part of a Peking Duck? Crispy Fried Duck Skin!

Cut the skin into short strips, keeping as much of the fat layer with it (you might even want to skin the duck prior to poaching to get as much of the fat layer as you can). Deep fry while stirring to prevent sticking, until the cracklins start to float in the oil and are getting brown (it can go pretty quick so don't walk away, but don't get antsy & pull them out before they're crispy). Serve as a garnish to the duck squares.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-05-23 12:36 ]

I agree with the inimitable Dr. Freelance.

Skin is in.