Peking Capital Sauce Food

PEKING SAUCE

Steps:

• In a skillet, combine soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
• Add a garlic clove, grated.
• Using a few rods, vigorously stir the mixture.
• Mix in the hot sauce and sesame paste.
• Mix in some honey or agave syrup.
• Reduce the sauce to medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the sauce until it has lost about a third of its volume.
• Turn off the heat when the sauce has reduced sufficiently.
• Allow 5 minutes for the sauce to cool.
• Stir in a small amount of red miso paste with a whisk until completely dissolved.
• Allow the sauce to cool completely in a clean container.
• Refrigerate the sauce after it has been made.
• Now serve it anytime you want.

PEKING DUCK

Steps:

• Place all the honey syrup ingredients in a large pan with 1.2 litres water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 20 mins.
• Meanwhile, rinse the duck well, blot it completely dry with kitchen paper, then put it on a rack in a roasting tin. Using a ladle, pour the syrup over the duck several times until the skin is completely coated on all sides. Leave the duck to dry out, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. When the duck has dried, the skin should feel like parchment paper.
• Heat oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. Sit the duck breast-side up on the rack in the roasting tin. Add 150ml water to the tin to prevent the fat from spattering, then roast in the oven for 15 mins. Reduce the heat to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and continue to roast for 1 hr 10 mins.
• Remove the duck from the oven and let it sit for at least 10 mins before you carve it. Using a cleaver or a sharp knife, cut the skin and meat into pieces and arrange them on a warm serving platter. Or, if you prefer, shred the meat using two forks.
• Serve at once with the pancakes, spring onions and a bowl of hoisin sauce.

PEKING-STYLE CHICKEN

Steps:

• Pare the zest from the orange in thick strips then mix with the soy sauce, sherry and fivespice powder in a large food bag. Bash the garlic cloves and ginger with the back of a knife to bruise them, then add to the bag and give everything a good mix. Put the chicken in the bag, rub the marinade all over the flesh then leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hrs, overnight ideally.
• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Remove the chicken from the marinade (keep it for later). Halve the orange and put both halves inside the cavity along with the bashed ginger and garlic from the marinade. With the chicken sitting on a rack in the sink, pour a kettleful of boiling water over it. Pat completely dry with kitchen paper. Set the chicken on its wire rack over a roasting tray and roast for 50 mins per kg or until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer.
• Strain the marinade into a pan along with the honey. Bring up to the boil then simmer for a couple of mins. Just before serving, turn the oven up as high as it will go. Brush some of the marinade all over the chicken. Return to the oven and cook until the chicken is crisp and browned. This will only take a couple of mins. Leave to rest, uncovered, for 5 mins. Serve with the remaining warmed marinade, some plain rice and bok choi or spinach stirfried with a little garlic and oyster sauce.