The Hirshon Teochew Braised Duck -潮州卤鸭

September 16, 2017 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Teochew Braised Duck Image Used Under Creative Commons License From recipeswecherish.com

Citizens, it has been far too long since your magnificent leader – the supreme majesty that is TFD – has posted a recipe for his favorite fowl: duck! To rectify this terrible oversight on my part, here is a magnificent and tender duck recipe originating from Chaozhou Province of the People’s Republic of China.

Teochew cuisine, also known as Chiuchow cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine or Chaoshan cuisine, originated from the Chaoshan region in the eastern part of China’s Guangdong Province, which includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang.

Teochew cuisine bears more similarities to that of Fujian cuisine, with which it shares some dishes. This may be due to the similarity of Chaoshan’s and Fujian’s culture and language and to their geographic proximity. However, Teochew cuisine is also influenced by Cantonese cuisine in its style and technique.

Teochew cuisine is well known for its seafood and vegetarian dishes. Its use of flavoring is much less heavy-handed than most other Chinese cuisines and depends much on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavor.

As a delicate cuisine, oil is not often used in large quantities and there is a relatively heavy emphasis on poaching, steaming and braising, as well as the common Chinese method of stir-frying.

Teochew cuisine is also known for serving congee (糜; mí; or mue), in addition to steamed rice or noodles with meals. The Teochew mue is rather different from the Cantonese counterpart, being very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl, while the Cantonese dish is more a thin gruel.

Authentic Teochew restaurants serve very strong oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny cups before and after the meal. Presented as gongfu tea, the tea has a thickly bittersweet taste, colloquially known as gam gam (甘甘; gān gān).

A condiment that is popular in Fujian and Taiwanese cuisine and commonly associated with cuisine of certain Teochew groups is shacha sauce (沙茶酱; 沙茶醬; shāchá jiàng). It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilies, brill fish and dried shrimp. The paste has a savory and slightly spicy taste. As an ingredient, it has multiple uses: as a base for soups, as a rub for barbecued meats, as a seasoning for stir-fried dishes, or as a component for dipping sauces.

In addition to soy sauce (widely used in all Chinese cuisines), the Teochew diaspora in Southeast Asia use fish sauce in their cooking. It is used as a flavoring agent in soups and sometimes as a dipping sauce, as in Vietnamese spring rolls.

Teochew chefs often use a special stock called superior broth (上汤; 上湯; shàngtāng). This stock remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. Portrayed in popular media, some Hong Kong chefs allegedly use the same superior broth that is preserved for decades. This stock can as well be seen on Chaozhou TV’s cooking programx.

There is a notable feast in Teochew cuisine called jiat dot (食桌; shízhuō; “food table”). A myriad of dishes are often served, which include shark fin soup, bird’s nest soup, lobster, steamed fish, roasted suckling pig and braised goose.

Teochew chefs take pride in their skills of vegetable carving, and carved vegetables are used as garnishes on cold dishes and on the banquet table.

Teochew cuisine is also known for a late night meal known as meh siao (夜宵; yèxiāo) or daa laang (打冷; dǎléng) among the Cantonese. Teochew people enjoy eating out close to midnight in restaurants or at roadside food stalls. Some dai pai dong-like eateries stay open till dawn.

Unlike the typical menu selections of many other Chinese cuisines, Teochew restaurant menus often have a dessert section.

Many people of Chaoshan origin, also known as Teochiu or Teochew people, have settled in Hong Kong and places in Southeast Asia like Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand. Influences they bring can be noted in Singaporean cuisine and that of other settlements.

A large number of Teochew people have also settled in Taiwan, evident in Taiwanese cuisine. Other notable Teochew diaspora communities are in Vietnam and France. There is also a large diaspora of Teochew people (most were from Southeast Asia) in the United States – particularly in California. There is a Teochew Chinese Association in Paris called L’Amicale des Teochews en France.

Citizens, my version of this classic recipe is traditional and flavorful beyond measure – I know it will favor with you, your family and your guests!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Teochew Braised Duck -潮州卤鸭

Ingredients

1 whole duck, about 4.5 pounds
12 cloves of old Garlic (smashed)
A thumbs-length knob of peeled galangal, sliced thinly or if unavailable use 1 Tbsp of peeled Ginger (minced)
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon stick
5 star anise
10 cloves
6 Tbsp shaved Gula Melaka (Dark Palm Sugar) - If unavailable, try jaggery or dark brown sugar
1 cup dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 ½ Tbsp five spice powder
1 Tbsp of Oyster Sauce
6 eggs, preferably duck eggs, hardboiled and shelled
6 pieces of tau pok, tofu puffs
3 pieces of tau kwa (extra firm tofu)
6 dried top-quality Shiitake Mushrooms (rehydrated in hot water)
2 Star Anise
1 Cinnamon Stick
½ tsp of Ground Black Pepper
4 Cups of Water (or just enough to cover duck)
2 Tbsp of Grapeseed Oil (or peanut oil)

Instructions

Marinate the duck the night before. Wash and pat dry the duck. Rub 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce mixed with 1 teaspoon five spice powder all over the duck both on the outside and inside. Stuff a few slices of galangal in the cavity. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the duck from the refrigerator one hour before cooking and bring it to room temperature.
Heat 3 Tbsp oil in the wok over medium high heat. Stir fry the galangal, ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, anise, and cloves until fragrant. Add the sugar and stir fry until the sugar caramelizes and turns brownish.
Depending on your liking, you can caramelize the sugar until the shade of dark chocolate. Add in some water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Don’t worry if the sugar crystalizes as it will dissolve again but be careful of adding water to the hot oil. You should have a brownish shade of braising liquid.
Add the light and dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and five spice powder. Bring to a boil and add the duck. Prick the skin with a bamboo skewer. Turn the duck over every 5 minutes to ensure the skin is evenly coated with the sauce. Continue for another 15 minutes.
Pour sufficient water to submerge ½ to 2/3 of the duck in it lengthwise. Do not add too much water in attempt to drown the whole bird. That would dilute the sauce by too much, watering down all the flavors quite literally.
Throw in the whole spices of bay leaves, cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick and garlic cloves. I like to use the old variety, pre-peeled in the store as it has a more full-bodied and robust taste compared to the fresher whitish ones chopped up for stir-fry dishes.
Cover the wok with a lid and allow the duck to slowly simmer over low heat for about 20 mins.
Meanwhile, cut the tau kwa lengthwise into rectangular cubes.
Turn the duck after 20 mins by propping it up from the wok with 2 chopsticks clasped under the wings and slowly sliding it back in again on the other side. Doing this without making a mess requires quite a bit of practice. Continue to simmer over low heat for another 20 mins. Tasting the sauce may be performed at this juncture. Add salt or light soya sauce to attune the flavors to one’s liking.
Add tau kwa, hardboiled eggs and tau pok at this point. Check the flavor and add salt and sugar to season to your taste.
Repeat the turning process and after returning the duck into the wok, and allow the ingredients to simmer with the duck for the last 20 min. Do remember that apart from the initial bringing ingredients to a boil after the addition of water, the duck is simmered under low heat afterwards.
Finally after an hour of so of slow simmering, the duck should be more or less ready. The meat should be rather firm and succulent. If one likes the meat to be softer and more tender, continue to cook for another 15- 20 mins.
Remove the duck, eggs, and tofu place them on a large plate or baking dish to cool before carving. Do not attempt chop up the duck while it is still hot.
Transfer the strained residual broth into a pot after the duck is removed. Add more water if required or if you prefer, reduce the liquid down to make a thicker sauce.
The hard-boiled eggs, tau kwa and tau pok pieces are cut up and served alongside the duck, drizzled with the braising liquid.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/hirshon-teochew-braised-duck-%e6%bd%ae%e5%b7%9e%e5%8d%a4%e9%b8%ad/

The Four Seasons Crisp Duck With Orange Sauce And Fig Garnish

November 21, 2016 by The Generalissimo 5 Comments

Orange Duck Image Used Under Creative Commons License From Pinterest.com

Citizens, your leader, the magnificent TFD, is celebrating a birthday soon!

As I enter the next phase of my beneficent and glorious reign, my thoughts go back to the halcyon days of my youth when a birthday dinner in New York City meant a trip to one of the finest restaurants of the 80’s – the Four Seasons!

Opened in 1959, the Four Seasons is associated with a number of milestone firsts in the hospitality industry. The Four Seasons is credited with introducing the idea of seasonally-changing menus to America. It was the first destination restaurant to print its menus in English. The Four Seasons was also the first restaurant in the US to cook using fresh, wild mushrooms.

The Four Seasons Crisp Duck With Orange Sauce And Fig Garnish was perhaps one of their most famed dishes, created by super-chef Seppi Renggli.

The Four Seasons has been famous for its roast duck since Chef Renggli introduced this recipe in 1976.

Chef Seppi Renggli

It was right after Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi bought the restaurant from Restaurant Associates, their former employer, and they had a new refrigeration system and a convection oven installed.

Says Chef Renggli now: “I saw the oven, and all this refrigerator space—rack after rack, and it had a fan — and I said to myself ’Oh, I can make Peking duck now.’”

Renggli’s recipe is not truly the Chinese banquet dish. The Four Seasons serves its duck with orange sauce, not in the Chinese style, though Renggli is well-acquainted with Asian seasoning and cooking, since he is married to an Indonesian woman.

His goal was not to create authentic Peking duck, but seriously crisp duck skin. He achieved this by the Chinese method of letting the skin dehydrate through several days of air circulation in the refrigerator, then painting it with what amounts to a teriyaki glaze, a coloring and flavoring mixture of soy sauce and honey with spices.

The drying is easily done in a home kitchen, if you are willing to monopolize a refrigerator shelf for three days. A convection oven is not needed. The following recipe is devised for a conventional oven.

This remains one of my favorite classic recipes and I am honored to share it with you, my Citizens! 😀

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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two 4 ½-pound ducks (if frozen, thoroughly defrosted), necks removed and reserved for the sauce

Marinade:

1 ounce, fresh ginger – peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic – unpeeled and cut in half
The zest (colored part of the peel) of ½ an orange – cut into thin strips
2 teaspoons, crushed coriander seeds
1 ½ teaspoons, black peppercorns
1 cup, soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey

For Roasting the duck:

¼ cup, loose jasmine tea leaves
1 tablespoon, ground Sichuan peppercorns (optional but strongly recommended)

BASIC DUCK SAUCE – Makes about 1 ½ cups

1 tablespoon, vegetable oil
the necks and wing tips from 2 ducks
1 celery rib – chopped
1 carrot – chopped
1 onion – chopped
1 bay leaf
3 large mushrooms – cut in half
4 cloves, garlic
1 tablespoon, freshly crushed black peppercorns
6 whole cloves
2 tablespoons, tomato purée
2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour
1 cup, dry red wine
4 cups, Brown Veal Stock or beef stock
cavity juices reserved from 2 crisp ducks (see preceding recipe)

ORANGE SAUCE: Makes at least 1 cup – enough for two ducks

2 oranges
1 ½ cups, Basic Duck Sauce (see preceding recipe)
sugar
2 tablespoons, Grand Marnier
2 tablespoons, currant jelly
2 tablespoons, lightly salted butter
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

FIG GARNISH FOR CRISP DUCK:

vegetable oil for deep frying
4 dates
4 to 6 walnut halves
1 tablespoon, raisins
1 tablespoon, candied fruits
8 ripe figs
2 cups, all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups, beer
kosher salt
sugar
ground cinnamon

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For the duck:

Cut off the wings at the second joint, and reserve for the sauce.

Cut or pull away all the fat from the duck’s cavities.

Clear a rack in your refrigerator and place the ducks on it, [if you have all glass shelves, place the ducks on wire racks so air can circulate underneath them] arranging the ducks breast sides up and a few inches apart.

It is important that air be allowed to circulate freely around the ducks so the skin will dry. You can place a large baking pan on another rack below the rack with the birds to catch drippings [or, in the case of glass shelves, simply place the baking pan immediately under the wire racks].

Leave the birds for 3 days.

Prepare the Marinade:

Place all the ingredients in a jar. Shake well to combine and refrigerate for 3 days, shaking daily.

About 3 hours before you plan to serve the ducks, remove them and the marinade from the refrigerator.

In handling the ducks, avoid pressing on the breasts since this will leave dark spots after roasting. With the point of a small sharp knife, prick the skin all over, except for the breasts.

Place a rack over a shallow pan and place the ducks on the rack. Strain the marinade through a sieve into a bowl. Brush the marinade liberally over the entire skin surface of both ducks.

Spoon the remaining marinade into the ducks’ cavities. Allow the ducks to dry, breast side up, on the rack for 15 minutes. Scrape any marinade drippings from the pan and spoon those drippings into the cavities.

Adjust the oven racks so that one is at the lowest level and the other is directly above the first.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Fill a large roasting pan with 3 quarts of water and the tea leaves. Place the pan on the lower oven rack. Position the ducks directly on the higher oven rack over the roasting pan. (Do not let the ducks touch each other.)

Leave the ducks to roast undisturbed for 1 ½ hours. When the ducks are cooked, the skin should be shiny, dark caramel in color and very crisp.

Remove the ducks, still on the oven rack, to your work area. Insert a kitchen fork into the neck cavity of one duck and tip it over a bowl to collect the juices. Repeat with the second duck. Set the juices aside for the sauce.

Place the ducks on the carving board and sprinkle with the Sichuan pepper. Allow them to stand for at least 10 minutes before carving.

To Carve the Ducks:

Place one duck on your carving board, breast up, with the legs facing you. Have ready a fork and carving knife. Rest the fork against the left wing to steady the duck on the board. With the knife, make an incision through the skin just above the right leg.

Press the knife blade to the right, forcing the leg away from the body and exposing the thigh joint. Work your knife through the thigh joint and cut down to the board, separating the thigh and leg from the body.

Keeping the fork in the same position, cut off the other leg and thigh in the same way. Scrape away the fat. With the tip of your knife, find the joint between the thigh and leg and separate the leg from the thigh.

Turn the bird around so the neck end faces you. Place the tip of your knife at the far end of the duck against the bone, just to the right of the center bone. Bring the knife toward you, following the breastbone until you reach the wishbone.

Feel with the point of the knife for the wing joint. Bring down the blade to cut through the wing joint to the board. As you cut, keep the knife against the rib cage, separating the wing and breast in one piece. Scrape away all the fat.

Repeat this step on the left side of the duck. Cut the wings from the breast pieces.

Repeat the entire procedure with the second duck.

To Serve the Ducks:
Spoon a layer of Orange Sauce over the bottom of a warmed serving platter. Arrange a pair of drumsticks, wing bones and thighs at each end of the platter. Place the breasts in the center and surround the meat with the fig garnish. Sprinkle with the sugared orange rind (see the Orange Sauce recipe, below).

Place the remaining orange sauce in a sauceboat and serve on the side.

For the Basic Duck Sauce:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the duck pieces and brown over high heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. Place the skillet in the preheated oven to cook the duck pieces for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the celery, carrot, onion, bay leaf, mushrooms, garlic cloves, pepper and cloves. Return the pan to the oven and allow to brown in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Place the skillet on top of the stove. Stir the tomato puree into the middle of the pan. Sprinkle the flour over the entire mixture and stir. Add the red wine and brown stock; stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 hours.

Stir the cavity juices into the sauce and cook for 10 minutes longer.

Strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press against the solids with a ladle to remove as much liquid as possible. Heat the sauce. Skim any fat. Cook until thick.

Orange Sauce:

Remove the rind from the oranges with a stripper. If you don’t have a stripper, use a vegetable peeler and then cut the rind into thin julienne strips. Place in a pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes, or until soft. Drain.

Squeeze the oranges and place the juice in a pot. Cook over high heat until reduced to about one-fourth the volume.

Place the basic duck sauce in another pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer while you prepare the rest of the sauce.

Place ½ cup sugar and 1 cup water in a pot. Bring to a boil and add the julienned rind. Cook over high heat for about 5 minutes, or until the syrup begins to caramelize, turning light brown.

Have a dish ready with a layer of sugar in it about ½ inch thick. Remove the rinds from the pan and toss in the sugar to coat completely. Set the rinds aside to cool.

Continue cooking the syrup until it reduces to a dark caramel syrup. Stir in the Grand Marnier and currant jelly, then the reduced orange juice. Whisk until smooth.

Pour in the basic duck sauce and whisk until smooth. Cook for a few minutes to thicken slightly. Whisk in the butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fig Garnish:

Heat the oil in a deep pot to 375 degrees.

Place the dates, walnuts, raisins and candied fruits in the work bowl of a food processor. Process, pulsing until coarsely chopped.

With your finger, work a hole into the center of each fig through the bottom, leaving the stems intact. Divide the nut-and-fruit mixture into eight portions and stuff one portion into each fig.

Mix the flour and beer to make a batter. Season with salt and sugar to taste, about 1 teaspoon of each. Dip the figs in the batter. Add them, one by one, to the oil, holding the stems until the batter begins to set.

Drop completely into the oil and cook until crisp. Drain well, then roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

The Hirshon Fujianese Fried Rice – 福建炒飯

November 7, 2016 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Fujian Fried Rice Image Used Under Creative Commons License From daydaycook.com

Citizens! Fried rice is, of course, one of the most popular dishes at any Chinese restaurant. Yet, you may be unaware that there are several versions of the recipe, with one in particular barely ever showing up in Cantonese restaurants (Which are the staple province of origin for most Chinese restaurants).

One of TFD’s favorite alternative recipes for fried rice is from the southern province of Fujian. one of the ancient capitals of gastronomy in China!

Fujian (Chinese: 福建; pinyin: Fújiàn), formerly romanized as Foken, Fouken, Fukien, and Hokkien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. The name Fujian came from the combination of Fuzhou and Jianzhou (a former name for Jian’ou) two cities in Fujian, during the Tang dynasty. While its population is chiefly of Han origin, it is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces in China.

Fujian Province, where most of the overseas Chinese in southeast Asia originated from, is still famously known as the Hokkien Province, based on the local pronunciation of the two Chinese characters “福建”.

Because of its mountainous nature and the numerous waves of migration from central China in the course of history, Fujian is one of the most linguistically diverse places in all Han Chinese areas of China. Local dialects can become unintelligible within 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). This is reflected in the expression that “if you drive five miles in Fujian the culture changes, and if you drive ten miles, the language does”.

Most varieties spoken in Fujian are assigned to a broad Min category. Early classifications, such as those of Li Fang-Kuei in 1937 and Yuan Jiahua in 1960, divided Min into Northern and Southern subgroups. More recent classifications subdivide Min into:

Southern Min, including the Amoy dialect,
Pu-Xian, spoken in central coastal areas,
Eastern Min (the former Northern group), including the Fuzhou dialect,
Northern Min, spoken in inland northern areas,
Central Min, spoken in the west of the province, and
Shao-Jiang, spoken in the northwest.
(The seventh subdivision of Min, Qiong Wen, is not spoken in Fujian.) Hakka, another subdivision of spoken Chinese, is spoken around Longyan by the Hakka people who live there.

As is true of other provinces, the official language in Fujian is Mandarin, which is used for communication between people of different localities.

Fujian cuisine is from one of the 8 great Chinese cooking regions derived most notably from the area of Fuzhou. Fujian-style cuisine is known to be light but flavorful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as “xianwei” (simplified Chinese: 鲜味; traditional Chinese: 鮮味; pinyin: xiānwèi), as well as retaining the original flavor of the main ingredients instead of masking them.

Many diverse seafoods and woodland delicacies are used, including a myriad variety of local fish, shellfish and turtles, or indigenous edible mushrooms and bamboo shoots, provided by the coastal and mountainous regions of Fujian. The most commonly employed cooking techniques in the region’s cuisine include braising, stewing, steaming and boiling.

Particular attention is paid on the finesse of knife skills and cooking technique of the chefs, which is used to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of seafood and other foods. Strong emphasis is put on the making and utilizing of broth and soups. There are sayings in the region’s cuisine: “One broth can be changed into numerous (ten) forms” (simplified Chinese: 一汤十变; traditional Chinese: －湯十變; pinyin: yī tāng shí biàn) and “It is unacceptable for a meal to not have soup” (simplified Chinese: 不汤不行; traditional Chinese: 不湯不行; pinyin: bù tāng bù xíng).

Fujianese fried rice takes many of these characteristics in its recipe – rice and egg are stir-fried together and then a gravy made of fresh seafood, poultry, dried mushrooms and vegetables is poured over it.

I found these tips to be particularly useful in making fried rice:

Yi’s Guide to Make Restaurant Style Fried Rice at Home:

1. Use long grain non-sticky rice. This would help achieve that signature fluffy and non-sticky texture you find in restaurants without having the same high heat stove that restaurants use.
2. Use overnight leftover rice to efficiently avoid rice from lumping together. If you don’t have previously refrigerated rice then try to cook the rice with 1 tsp of cooking oil and slight less water. Cool the rice to room temperature before frying
3. Fry over high heat. This is especially important if you add vegetables to the fry rice because you’ll end up with watery fried rice if your wok is not hot enough.

This is a delicious recipe that has more than a touch of TFD’s magic in it, my Citizens! 🙂

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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For the Fried Rice
4 cups Cooked 1 day old rice
1 Egg, beaten
Salt and pepper

Shrimp marinade:
3 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
A dash of ground white pepper
Dash of salt

For the Gravy:

12 small shrimp
½ cup grilled chicken or duck (chopped)
¼ cup Carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, minced
2/3 cup dried Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 2 cups chicken stock (reserve stock) and diced
¼ cup diced seeded Tomatoes
2 Choy sum or Chinese broccoli stems, diced
3 Chinese dried scallops, soaked in water overnight, water discarded then diced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Oyster sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp White pepper powder

Cornstarch dissolved in stock (thickening sauce)

1 tsp Sesame oil

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1. Prepare the shrimps. Cut into small pieces (optional). Let them sit for 10 minutes in iced heavily-salted water. Drain and reserve.
2. In a frying pan, heat up some peanut oil on high heat. Add minced garlic and sauté with diced mushroom. Add diced vegetable, scallions and shrimp. Sauté thoroughly until fully cooked, about 3 minutes.
3. Add remaining brown sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer, about 2 minutes.
4. Add a bit of thickening sauce and reduce to low heat – thicken to taste with more sauce if needed. Set aside.
5. In a separate pan, add beaten egg to cook on high heat. When egg is half cooked, add rice and mix well. Stir-fry until all egg is cooked and the grains of rice are separated. Add salt to taste and sesame oil and stir.
6. Transfer the fried rice onto a serving bowl. Pour the shrimp brown sauce over rice.