• Place the duck in your clean sink and
boil a kettle of water. Pour the water
over the duck, scalding it on all sides.
The skin will shrink immediately, making
it look tight and taut. (If only it were so
simple for us!)
• Place the duck on a large rack over a
baking tray.
• Carefully score the skin with a sharp
knife. You just want to cut through the
first layer and expose the fat, not the
meat.
• Mix the marinade ingredients and
brush over the duck, and then place
the duck in the refrigerator overnight,
making sure to baste and turn the duck
every now and again.
• Wash and cook the rice together
with the Chinese sausage in double
amounts of liquid (stock or water, or half
and half) in a rice cooker, or a large
pot. Leave to cool, and refrigerate
overnight to make sure it is as dry as
possible.
On the day of the meal:
• Brush more marinade over the duck.
Put the star anise inside the duck cavity
and place it in a hot oven at 190°C,
breast-side down. Cook for 1 hour, then
turn and baste again.
• Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients
for the rice. Remove stalks from the
Chinese mushroom and finely chop
and squeeze any water out.
• Take the Chinese sausage out of
the rice (which has been cooling in
the fridge), and chop into very small
cubes. If you have saved the giblets
from the duck, wash them carefully by
blanching them for a minute or two,
then chop finely.
• Heat a large wok and add a little oil.
Add the garlic, ginger and pine nuts.
The pine nuts will toast quickly, so add
the Chinese sausage and giblets, and
fry quickly. Toss well, then add the
mushrooms. Fry for a minute or two
before adding the onions and celery,
and tossing well for another minute or
so.
• Add the rice, breaking up the clumps
with your hands or a wooden spatula
as you stir-fry, and mix well until the rice
is cooked again (Listen: when it stops
sizzling and crackling, that means the
water has evaporated from the rice
and it is cooked). Set aside.
• After an hour of roasting, remove the
duck from the oven and stuff the cavity
with a few tablespoons of the rice
stuffing and seal the cavity with sharp
toothpicks.*
• Turn the duck breast-side up and return
to the oven. Depending on the size
of your bird, roast for another 30-45
minutes, but keep an eye on it at this
point. The skin will be very dark brown
or black, which is caused by the sugars
in the honey and the five-spice powder.
• Check the duck breast every 10-15
minutes from this point. It should be
pink, not brown! When it is done, take
it out and leave it to rest on the rack for
15-20 minutes before carving.
• Remove the rice from the cavity and
mix with the rest of the wild rice, and
put the stuffing into an oven-proof dish
and leave to warm up in the oven.
* Stuffing the duck with the wild rice
stuffing is optional. To be safe, if you do
stuff the duck, remove the stuffing after
the duck has been cooked, mix it well
with the rest of the stuffing, and take care
to reheat it properly to ensure that all the
duck juices are fully cooked.
Note:
If you have a lot of oil from the
duck, don’t throw it away. Instead, put it
in a clean jam jar and save it for roasting
potatoes or vegetables. Keep any juices
and marinade and make them into a
delicious gravy with a little white wine.
Keep the carcass to make stock with
some celery, carrots, onions and a splash
of apple cider vinegar.
February 2015
77
