Braised Duck in Chinese Wine

I always thought that my kitchen is well-equipped with all sorts of utensils and pots and pans in all sizes... until today. I realised that I don't even have a pot big enough to fit a duck!

This is what happened ... I wanted to prepare a braised duck, as a contribution to the dinner at my mom's place. I had all ingredients prepared and the duck lying in a plate when I retrieved my "biggest" pot from the shelf. I looked at the pot and then at the duck, err, seems like my "biggest" pot is not that big after all and I can't possibly fit the duck into the pot. It's definitely too late to go out and buy a pot, and so I came up a Plan B, which was, chopping off its head. The problem should be solved now... or so I thought.

I proceeded to boil a big pot of water, with ingredients like clove, star anise, dang gui, peppercorns and pandan leaves. The duck was lowered into the pot after the water was boiled. Urgh! The rear end of the duck was sticking out from the pot! I took a pair of scissor and cut off the end, pushed the duck into the water, poured some chinese Shaoxing wine and closed the lid. The headless and bottomless duck was then slow-cooked for close to 1.5 hours.

The result is a duck full of aroma of the chinese wine and danggui. What I liked most is that the meat is exceptionally tender. The duck was served with a combination of diced spring onions, garlic, chilies and chinese parsley, with lemon juice and 2 drops of fish sauce.

Braised Duck in Chinese Wine Recipe

Ingredient A:
1 duck (about 1.8kg)
100ml Chinese Shaoxing wine
3000ml water (or enough to submerge the whole duck)

Ingredient B:
80g pepprcorns (crushed)
40g Dang gui
20g star anises
10g cloves
100g fresh galangal (sliced)
10 blades pandan leaf

Seasoning:
1 tbsp MSG (optional)
80ml fish sauce (Reduce the amount if necessary)
Salt to taste

Sauce (optional):
6 tbsp lime juice
100g chopped garlic
1 stalk fresh coriander (chopped)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2-3 chillies (chopped)
1/2 tbsp MSG (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp sugar

Method:
1) Cut the duck into half, blanch into hot water. Remove and keep aside.
2) Pour the water into a deep pot, add in all ingredients B, bring to boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, pour in Shaoxing wine and seasoning, continue to cook for further 5 minutes.
3) Place in duck, covered and stew over a low heat for approximately 90 minutes. Remove the duck, leave to cool and cut into pieces. Dish up. Keep aside.
4) Mix the sauce until well combined, pour over to the duck pieces. Serve.