Hunan Crispy Duck is a famous dish in China, there are various version and outcome is not the same as well, some with bone and some are boneless. This dish rarely to find in Hong Kong, but it’s quite famous in Malaysia, I have tried once nearby my home, unfortunately it’s close down for Covid
I have seen a boneless version online once, it’s seem like the version I have tasted nearby home, so I tried to make it with sous vide instead, the duck meat remain tender and juicy, also it’s easy to take off the bone without affect the form of duck.
In China, this dish will accomplish with sweet sauce and tomato sauce, but when I learn from online, this is accomplished with Sichuan red pepper salt, however, I’ve tried this in Malaysia wrapped with spring roll pastry, cucumber and China leek. So I’ve combined all into this recipe.
作者只用半隻鴨來作參考，讀者也可以做全鴨，但請把鴨打開及需把分量加一倍就可以了。
This time, I have demo only using half duck, you can also make whole duck, please spatchcock the duck beforehand and double up the ingredients.
1. 預熱慢煮棒為70度 Preheat your Sous vide machine to 70 degree celsius
2. 清洗乾淨鴨身，用布或廚房紙吸乾 Wash your duck in tap water, then pat dry it using kitchen paper/towel
3. 用鹽及五香粉刷滿全鴨的內外，備用 Put salt and five spices powder throughly on the duck in and out, and set aside
4. 用乾鍋炒香所有香料，並用茶袋載著 （紅花椒粒只用2茶匙) Stir fry all spices until smell fragrance without oil, then put all the spices into a tea bag ( for sichuan red peppercorn only use 2 teaspoons)
5. 用原鍋加入香料袋、水及冰糖, 煮至冰糖完全溶化，備用 Use the same pot, put the tea bag, water and rock sugar, cook until all rock sugar are melted, set aside
6. 將鴨、薑、大蔥(用1/2條分段)、陳皮、香料袋及煮好的香料水放入真空袋 Prepare vacuum bag, put the duck, ginger, china leek (only 1/2 pc), Tangerine peel, spices tea bag and cooked spices water into the bag
7. 進行低溫慢煮16小時 Start cooking sous vide for 16 hours
8. 慢煮完成後，取出並小心地印乾水分，小心地把所有骨抽起，備用 After cooked, take out the duck and pat dry a bit, then take out the bones carefully and set aside
9. 預備一隻平碟，先放上麵粉+紅薯粉，攪拌並平均鋪在碟上 Prepare a plain dish, put plain flour and sweet potato starch, mix it well and put all the dish throughly
10. 小心地把無骨鴨肉放在碟上 (內向上)，備用 Then, put the boneless duck carefully on the dish (skin side down), set aside
11. 用把其餘的花椒粒乾炒至出香味，待涼 Use the pan to stir fry remaining sichuan red pepper corn, then take out and let it cool down a bit
12. 把1/2條大蔥切碎，把炒好的花椒粒(只用3茶匙)壓碎，把兩者撈勻，備用 Chop another half of China leek, and also chopped another 3 teaspoons sichuan red pepper corn, then mix it well, set aside
13. 做麵糊，蛋+麵粉+紅薯粉+少許水(麵粉與紅薯粉比例為1:2），攪勻為少少帶濃的感覺 Prepare frying batter, put egg, plain flour, sweet potato starch and water into a bowl (plain flour and sweet potato starch ratio is 1:2), mix well and the batter just a bit dilute
14. 把花椒蔥平均地灑在鴨肉上，再平均地把麵糊舖在上面 Put the peppper leek mixture first and then the batter onto the duck throughly
15. 準備炸油，預熱油溫至160度 Prepare to deep fry it, preheat the oil to 160 degree celsius
16.小心地把鴨肉滑下油，炸至硬身就可以先盛起 Carefully put the duck into the oil and deep fry until becomes hard, then take out first
17. 把油温升至220度，炸至金黃色，盛起備用 Heat up the oil again until 220 degree celsius, and put the duck back again, deep fry until golden colour, then take out and let it cool down
18. 把剩下的花椒碎加鹽，拌勻 Prepare dipping dish, add salt and remaining pepper powder , mix well
19. 放涼後的鴨肉可以切件上枱了。 Cut the duck into pieces and enjoy
20. 食時用春卷皮配以青瓜、大蔥條、甜麵醬及花椒鹽包著就可以享用。 You can wrap the duck meat with cucumber, china leek, sweet sauce and pepper salt into a spring roll pastry.
Tips : If you don’t have enough red peppercorn, pepper salt and pepper leek mix you can use pepper powder instead.
I have tried to cook this dish in traditional way, buy my beloved one felt that it’s not too favourable, so I tried to cook in Sous Vide method, the outcome favour not only outside of the meat and even inside of the meat as well. Also, the texture also softer than traditional cooking.
Use a big wok, heat it and add oil in, then move the oil around the wok, put in the duck (skin down), and sear all the skin until brown colour, then set aside
Wash the wok and heat dry in the stove, put garlic, spring onion, ginger, shallot, star anise and clove, stir fry until fragrance, then add the rest of the ingredients, cook until concentrated, then let it cool down a bit
5. 把鴨及煮好的醬料放入真空袋，烹煮時間為6小時30分鐘
Put duck and cooked sauce, and vacuum it, then cook 6 hours 30 minutes
6. 煮好後，再把溫度下調到58度，再煮2小時
After the above time, then set the temperature down to 58 degree celsius for another 2 hours
7. 取出後就鴨肉可以切件，備用
After cooked, carefully pull out the duck and cut into small pieces, set aside
8. 把醬汁再次煮成濃汁，倒在鴨件上就完成。
Put the sauce back to wok and cook again until concentrated, then pull on the duck pieces, finished.
Finally, I found a large beef brisket in Malaysia. This is I’m using another way to make and find that this more favourable and meat texture is softer, so here’s the recipe to share with you.
第一部份分：鹽水浸 ～用來給予味道及初步殺菌 (Part 1 – Brine)
材料 (Ingredients) ：
大型牛腩 (Beef Brisket) – 2kg
鹽 (Salt) – 190g
黃糖 (Brown Sugar) – 330g
黑胡椒粒 (Black Peppercorn) – 40g
肉桂 (Cinnamon) – 2條
茴香籽 (Fennel Seed) – 2g
芫茜籽 (Coriander Seed) – 2g
八角 (Star Anise) – 1 whole
丁香 (Clove) – 5pcs
月桂葉 (Bay Leaf) – 2pcs
蒜粉 (Garlic Powder) – 5g
辣椒粉 (Chilli Flake) – 4g
芥末籽 (Mustard Seed) – 5g
水 (Water) – 4.5kg
Instant Cure #1 (Optional) – 10g
1. 準備一個大箱，把所有醃料放入箱肉，攪拌至所有糖及鹽溶於水中 (想容易溶的話，可以先用少量熱水溶解，再立即加入冰粒及水至室溫)
Prepare a big container, add all the spices and water into the water and mix it until all salt and sugar completely dissolved (If you wanna dissolve it easily, just use a small amount of hot water to mix it and put amount of ice to cool down until room temperature immediately)
2. 大型手腩開封後，先清新一下，然後用乾布或廚房紙印乾
Wash the brisket a bit and use a dry towel or kitchen paper to dry the meat
3. 小心地把牛腩上的脂肪及薄膜用利刀割出來，盡量清除所有的
Carefully trim off all the fats using a sharp knife
4. 清除好後，把牛腩放入箱內，放入雪櫃，保持於4°C儲存7天，每天從雪櫃取出一次並把牛腩反轉一下
Put the brisket into the brine for 7 days, refrigerate it and keep it on 4°C for your refrigerator, turn over once a day
5. 7天後，再準備另一個大型容器，放入大量冰及水，從雪櫃取出後，先清洗一下，再立即放入冰水中浸泡一小時
After 7 days, wash off all the spices under tap water, prepare another container, put large amount of ice and water, soak the brisket for another one hour
第二部分 – 低溫慢煮 (Part 2 – Sous vide)
1. 預備低溫慢煮器，預熱為60°C
Preheat your sous vide cooker to 60°C
2. 浸泡好的牛腩，取出並印乾
Take out the brisket and dry it using dry towel or kitchen paper
3. 放入真空袋進行真空，並開始低溫慢煮，時間為48小時
Put the brisket into vacuum bag and progress sous vide for 48 hours
第三部分- 調味 (Part 3 – Dry Rub)
材料 (Ingredients) ：
鹽 (Salt) – 75g
黃糖 (Brown Sugar) – 375g
黑胡椒粒 (Black Peppercorn) – 72g
芫茜籽 (Coriander Seed) – 55g
蒜粉 (Garlic Powder) – 10g
洋蔥粉 (Onion powder) – 10g
甜椒粉 (Paprika) – 5g
芥末粉 (Ground Mustard) – 5g
1. 準備一個大容器，加入水及冰，把低溫慢煮好後的牛腩，立即連袋放入冰水中冷卻
Prepare a container with ice and water, put the cooked brisket into a ice water
2. 然後把以上的所有材料用打粉機打勻，備用
Mix all the dry rub spices well
3. 取出冷卻好的牛腩，用乾布或廚房紙印乾，要印得很乾
Again, take out the bisket and dry it thoroughly this time
4. 把攪拌好的乾調味料用手拍在牛腩上，並用力把調味料壓好，一定要平均地舖滿整件牛腩上
Apply the dry rub on the bisket, press the dry rub onto the bisket and make sure it is completely covered all over the meat
第四部分 – 煙燻 (Part 4 – Smoking)
1. 準備好煙燻器，作者覺得用胡桃木比較適合，今次用3湯匙的木碎
Prepare the smoker, I’m using Hickory wood chips, this time using 3 tablespoons of wood chips
2. 把調味好的牛腩放入煙燻器進行煙燻一小時，溫度保持於100°C-107°C，而通風口保持全開
Progress of smoke for one hour, make sure it keeping 100°C-107°C and keeping the vent fully open
3. 最後煙燻好的牛腩放在架上放涼及放水氣，就可以切片及保存。
After smoked, put it in the rack and let it cool down and evaporate water, then you can slice it and refrigerate it, finished.
溫馨小廚 