Who's Cooking Duck ~ Love A Duck Chinese Restaurant

Chinese BBQ Duck is delicious – how do they get them that way?!

All over Auckland you can see beautiful golden-skinned ducks hanging in the window of Chinese BBQ shops - their dark, crispy skins glisten in the light of the heat lamps. How do they cook them to look like that? I can’t get that result at home!

I went to Love A Duck Restaurant on Beach Road in Auckland to find out.

Love A Duck has been in New Zealand for at least 20 years, opening originally in the Gum Sarn Oriental Warehouse on Fanshawe Street. The new restaurant in Beach Road, is the 4th store in the chain, serving BBQ duck and a full Chinese restaurant menu.

Hosted by the manager Wilson Tse, I was led through the whole BBQ duck process.

Like all good restaurants, cooking the best BBQ duck is one part ingredients and 3 parts chef’s expertise – you must start with a good young, fresh duck, but it’s the chef who will determine the blend of spices, herbs & sauces which marinade and coat the duck, what temperature to cook the duck and for how long to cook the duck. Mr Tse tells me that it can take 6 months to a year, for a chef to learn how to cook the perfect BBQ duck.

The Duck.

First of all, start with a young, freshly frozen duck, complete with the head & feet. Mr Tse explained that the head is important to show the customer that the duck is young duck and not an old duck. The head also contributes to the nice appearance of the duck.

Marinating & Preparing the Duck

Then comes the marinating process. While the process is the same for Chinese BBQ duck, each BBQ shop will have its own marinade recipe - this is how they differentiate their BBQ duck over their competitors offering - not all BBQ duck is equal! The Head Chef will spoon in a measure of the secret herbs & spices. Then they will add the liquid marinade. Once again this is a secret blend of asian sauces, bean paste, and other flavourings. Lastly they add some cooking wine.

In order to keep all of this marinade in the duck, they must secure the vent. So, using a metal skewer, the vent is literally sewn closed.

Now, it's time to treat the skin. The skin on the duck is of great importance. When the duck is cooked, the skin acts as the "packaging", telling the customer that this duck is of better quality than their competitor's.

So, how do they treat the skin? By blowing it up, of course! With the aid of an air compressor, the chef will gently blow air under the skin to separate the skin and fat from the meat. The purpose of this step is to dry the skin so that it will go crispy in the oven and to allow the fat, from under the skin, to drip out, during cooking.

Once the duck skin has been freed from the meat, the whole duck will be coated in a mixture of vinegar, and maltose, before being hung in a refrigerator to dry. The refrigerator will keep the duck cold and dry, while it is marinating. The hanging time is at least 4 hours or overnight.

The BBQ oven, for cooking duck & pork is not your average BBQ. It’s not even your average rotisserie oven! It is actually an upright, stainless steel 'barrel', heated by an open gas ring. Imported from China & Hong Kong, they are lined with a stainless steel ring, on which the duck & pork is hung to cook. The fat drips onto the drip tray and is discarded at the end of cooking.

The cooking time and temperature is crucial. The BBQ oven doesn’t come with a temperature gauge or a timer, rather the Head Chef determines when the temperature is right, and how long to cook the duck – once again it is all part of the store’s unique BBQ duck product. Generally speaking the oven will heat to around 180-200°C and the duck will take 45 minutes to cook.

When the duck is removed from the oven it will then be displayed in the BBQ window. The skin will be almost lacquered in appearance, and will glisten under the heat lamps. When you cut open the duck, there will be no layer of fat, just very thin crispy skin. The meat will be dark and very smooth. The taste is sublime - moist, flavoursome and very, very tender. Quite unlike any other duck you will eat.

Peking Duck is a dining experience to be savoured. It is a series of courses, using BBQ duck, with vegetable accompaniments. It is a way of dining that uses the whole duck - skin, meat & bones!

First course is the duck skin, served with small lighter-than-light pancakes, hoisin sauce and thinly sliced spring onions and cucumber. Simply smear the pancakes with the sauce, then add duck skin, spring onions and cucumber, roll up and eat. One owner of a Chinese restaurant used to make the pancakes herself, because no-one else in her kitchen got them so light!

The second course is the duck meat, which has been stirfried with other vegetables, usually water chestnut or bamboo shoots. This can be served in fresh, chilled crisp iceberg lettuce cups. Once again, simply spoon some duck stirfry into a lettuce cup, roll up and eat.

The third course is duck soup. The kitchen will have turned the carcass of the duck into duck soup. It is traditionally served as the third course.

Most quality Chinese restaurants will offer 1, 2 or 3 courses of Peking duck for you to choose from.