Peking Duck Pancake Rolls (Buck Ging Ngap)

Well, the weather has certainly not got any better and thoughts turn to what to braai this week? Something different, "somebody said" but without any further help of what to cook! So I looked through my collection of recipe books (Charmaine Solomon is the inspiration for this) for something that you would not think to cook on the braai and this is how I arrived at Peking Duck.

You may ask why, I haven't to foggiest idea why but I know now that it was a great choice if not foolish. The Chinese have been cooking this for centuries and make it look easy, let me tell you it's not. This will take longer than all the other recipes I've cooked so far put together but if you follow these easy steps it will be worth it.

One Duck, will yield three separate dishes, the crackling crispy skin is eaten with mandarin pancakes (this is the most important course and what is meant by "Peking Duck") the flesh is served separately and the bones are then used to make a soup. I am only going to do the first two as I ran out of time to make the soup but have make the stock ready for another day. This is a variation on the traditional way to make this dish but it saves a lot of time and really works well.

Serves 6 - Prep: 8 hrs marinating - Cook Time: 120 mins

Ingredients:

1 x 2.5kg rousing duck
2 tsp of salt
1/3 cup of vodka (a couple of shots for yourself will help with the time it takes to get this meal ready)
3 x tbs honey
3 cups of water
6 slices of fresh ginger

For Serving

2 dozen Mandarin pancakes (I cheated and bought them from my local Chinese restaurant along with the Hoi sin sauce) who's got that much time that you can make these as well? If you have then let me know and you can pop along and give me a hand, lol
Spring onions sliced into slivers
Hoi sin sauce
1 cucumber cut into long slivers
Fresh steamed rice
Fresh stye fried Bok Choi
Pack of prawn crackers to serve the skin on

Method

Wash the duck, drain well and dry thoroughly, inside and out
Rub the salt all over the duck inside and out
Spoon the vodka over and rub all over the duck place the sliced ginger inside the duck
Leave for 4 hrs to marinade turning the bird from time to time so all the skin is in contact with the vodka at some point
Dissolve the honey in the water, rub this mixture into the skin of the duck not missing any place (they use a red dye but I prefer not to)
You now need to tie the duck, so that you are able to hang it in a breezy place, for at least 4 hrs to dry (the Chinese chefs inflated the skin of the bird before hanging it for 24hrs but that was just beyond my abilities and time limits at the moment) I left it in our large fridge, worked a treat
Preheat the braai to about 190°C (375°F)
Place the duck on a rack over a roasting pan that has hot water in it, the duck must be well above the water
Cook for 30 minutes and the turn the heat down to 150°C (300°F) for a further hour
Then bring the temperature back up to its original temp and roast until the skin is crispy and brown all over

All that needs to be done now is to eat this fantastic bird, start by separating the skin from the meat. It should be really easy if you have crisped the skin correctly, start by cutting along the breast as I have in the photo below. Place the skin sliced onto a bead of prawn crackers, this will soak up the excess fat and will be fantastic when you eat them later.

The first course should be the soup that you made with the bones but as I said I have not done this this time.

Second course is the Peking Pancakes, I served this with the skin a little meat and the spring onion and cucumber, along with a little Hoi sin sauce. Wow, I could not believe how good this actually was and it was cooked on a braai.

Third Course was the flesh of the duck served with steamed rice and fresh Bok choi man this was just as good the pancakes.

This braai is just unbelievable, even a novice as myself is cooking what I consider to be a great meal. I'm sure that without this braai I would just be burning these dishes but who knows perhaps I'm getting better after nearly 8 weeks of cooking. Why not give this a go, if you do, please let me know what you think, we all would be interested to hear your stories.