Crispy Peking Duck

Who knew it was this easy to make crispy duck at home?!

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 2½ hours
Difficulty Level: Advanced

Ingredients:

For the Peking duck:

• 1 duck
• 1 large pot of water
• ⅔ cup rice vinegar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 tbsp fennel seed
• 1 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
• 1-2 tsp star anise

For the glaze:

• 1 cup hot water
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• ⅓ cup honey

Instructions:

1. Bend a clean metal hanger so that you can hang the duck on it. Bring the water in the large pot to a boil, add the rice vinegar, let the duck soak for 5 minutes, and then pat it dry.

2. Crush the cinnamon, sea salt, whole cloves, fennel seed, Szechuan peppercorns, and star anise, mix it together, and rub the mixture inside the duck. Carefully poke an air pump just under the skin of the duck and start pumping to inflate and separate the duck skin from the meat – this will ensure that the duck is extra crispy after cooking. Using the hanger and a large wooden stick, hang the duck up inside a cardboard box and place a casserole dish underneath the duck. Aim a fan at the duck and let it dry – it's important to get the skin as dry as possible so that the glaze will stick better.

3. For the glaze, combine the hot water, rice vinegar, and honey. Once the glaze has cooled, brush it over the duck and use the fan to dry it on the skin. Continue glazing the duck and letting it dry in between coats until you have used all of the glaze, and then leave the fan on the duck overnight to completely dry.

4. Hang the duck in a preheated oven and cook at 325°F for 2 hours. Then increase the temperature to 400°F and cook until the duck skin is nice and crispy. Let the cooked duck cool, then slice and enjoy – we recommend serving it in the form of a traditional Peking duck pancake!