Cantonese Roast Duck

Name: Cantonese Roast Duck
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 1 whole duck, about 2 kg, excess fat trimmed and patted very dry; 1 tsp salt, for the cavity; 2 tbsp hoisin sauce; 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry); 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; 1 tbsp sugar; 3 slices fresh ginger; 2 spring onions, halved; 2 star anise; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tbsp maltose (or honey), for the skin glaze; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 250 ml boiling water; 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, for colour

Cantonese roast duck is one of the great glories of siu mei, the Cantonese art of roast meats you see glistening in shop windows across southern China and Hong Kong. Traditionally the whole bird is inflated, glazed with a maltose wash, air-dried and roasted in a tall charcoal oven until the skin turns mahogany and shatters, while a fragrant marinade of five-spice, hoisin and aromatics is sealed inside to perfume and baste the meat as it cooks. A home oven cannot match a professional roast box, but the two principles that matter carry over completely: dry the skin thoroughly — a maltose glaze and a long uncovered chill in the fridge are what make it crisp — and roast low first to render the fat, then high to lacquer and blister the skin. The reward is deeply savoury meat under crackling, glassy skin.

Total time1h 30m

Active time30m

Servings4

DifficultyEasy

Cost$

Add to my meal plan

🦆

Crackling skin

Glassy, mahogany, shatteringly crisp

🍯

Maltose lacquer

Air-dried skin, glazed and blistered

🌿

Five-spice aroma

Fragrant marinade sealed inside

🔥

Low-then-high roast

Render the fat, then crisp the skin

Ingredients 4 servings

1 whole duck, about 2 kg, excess fat trimmed and patted very dry
1 tsp salt, for the cavity
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 tbsp sugar
3 slices fresh ginger
2 spring onions, halved
2 star anise
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp maltose (or honey), for the skin glaze
2 tbsp rice vinegar
250 ml boiling water
1 tbsp dark soy sauce, for colour

How to make it

1PREP THE DUCK: pull out any loose fat from the cavity, rinse and pat the duck bone-dry inside and out — dry skin is the whole secret to crispness.
2MAKE THE CAVITY PASTE: mix the hoisin, light soy, Shaoxing, five-spice and sugar into a paste; rub 1 tsp salt then the paste all around the inside of the duck, and tuck in the ginger, halved spring onions, star anise and crushed garlic.
3SEAL: close the cavity with a skewer or by sewing so the aromatics steam the meat from within as it roasts.
4GLAZE THE SKIN: stir the maltose, rice vinegar, dark soy and 250 ml boiling water together; sit the duck on a rack and ladle the hot glaze all over the skin several times until it is evenly coated — the sugar and vinegar are what lacquer and crisp the skin.
5AIR-DRY: set the duck breast-up on a rack over a tray and refrigerate uncovered at least 8 hours, ideally overnight, so the skin dries taut and papery.
6ROAST LOW: heat the oven to 160 C; roast the duck breast-up 60 minutes, letting the fat render slowly.
7ROAST HIGH: raise the oven to 200 C and roast 25-35 minutes more until the skin is deep mahogany and crackling crisp and the juices run clear at the thigh; if any part colours too fast, shield it with foil.
8REST AND CHOP: rest 15 minutes, then chop through the bone into bite-size pieces Cantonese-style, or carve; serve with steamed rice and the cavity juices, or in pancakes with hoisin.