The best roast duck I ever had was at The Ginkgo Tree, a Korean restaurant in Seoul. The duck was stuffed with sweet rice, black rice, dried jujubes (red dates) and pumpkin seeds. Then it was roasted on clay bricks. The meat was incredibly tender and all its juices settled into the stuffing. My husband and I had dinner there with Dan Gray, of
Seoul Eats. (You may remember the
post I wrote.) Thinking of that duck, I tried to recreate the dish at home. I included the dish in my Level 5 Menu Project as part of
The French Culinary Institute's curriculum.
Since I roasted eight ducks for my
Level 4 Asian-Latino Buffet at school, I had become an expert at making Chinese-style roast duck with crispy skin. At home, I brought pots of water up to a boil and poured the water over the ducks in a sink to render layers of fat. Then I dried out the ducks on racks in the refrigerator for two days. I made the sweet rice stuffing and put it in the cavity. After glazing the ducks with a honey and vinegar mixture, I roasted the ducks for two and a half hours and constantly basted them with the same mixture so the ducks turned a deep golden brown.
Stuffing
The duck I made was crispy and tender. The stuffing was savory with bits of duck meat, getting hits of sweetness from the golden raisins and dried jujubes.
My duck wasn't as fall-apart tender as The Ginkgo Tree. Their stuffing was totally drenched in duck juice.
A waitress was able to break apart the duck. Since it was roasted on clay bricks, the rice became crispy and stuck to the skin.
Even though my duck didn't come out exactly like the one in Seoul, it was still pretty tasty. I'd make it again.
Roast duck stuffed with sweet rice and jujubes
Serves 4
1 5-6 lb. Long Island ducks
2 quarts or 2 liters water
Honey glaze
15 ml or 1 tablespoon honey
30 ml or 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup or 60 ml water
Stuffing
268 g or 1 1/2 cups sweet brown rice
40 g or 1/4 cup sweet wild rice
820 ml or 3 1/3 cups water
75 g or 1 cup dried jujubes, pitted; then sliced
70 g or 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
50 g or 1/3 cup pine nuts
30 g or 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
50 g or 1/3 cup golden raisins
10 g or 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
15 ml or 1 tablespoon mirin
Salt to taste
Note: You will have a lot of leftover stuffing. Save for later. The amount of stuffing is more than enough for two ducks.
Bring water to a boil. Meanwhile, remove the wishbone and cut off the wing tips of the duck at the second joint. Place the duck on a rack in the sink. Pour the boiling hot water over the duck to render some layers of fat. Turn over the duck and pour more water over it.
Mix the honey, rice vinegar and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Glaze the duck with the mixture.
Lay parchment paper in a sheet pan. Fit a rack in the sheet pan and place the duck on it. Air-dry duck in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.
For the stuffing:
Mix sweet brown rice and wild sweet rice. Cook in a rice cooker. If cooking on the stovetop, combine rice and water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Simmer for about 15-17 minutes. If rice is chewy, continue to simmer until tender. Take off heat. Let sit for about five minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.
Add pitted jujubes, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, ginger and mirin. Season with salt.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stuff the duck with the rice mixture. Roast the duck in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.
Serve the duck family style, carving and placing portions on each plate, along with the stuffing.
Print recipe
Other dishes in my Menu Project:
Course 1: Banchan of stir-fried anchovies, seasoned cucumbers and kimchi
Course 2: Bulgogi Bibimbap (Korean marinated beef with vegetables over rice
Course 3: Porgie in Kimchi Bacon Broth
Course 4: Kalbi Jjim (Korean short rib stew)
