Ingredients
5 lb long island duck, cleaned
1 tbsp chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup water chestnut powder
1 boiling water
1 sweet and sour plum sauce
1 oil for deep frying
1 crushed toasted almonds
Directions
Place duck in large kettle or Dutch oven with enough boiling
water to cover. Add spices and salt and simmer covered until tender,
about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Remove duck from liquid and let cool.
Remove meat from bones and discard skin. Pour chestnut powder
into small baking pan (an 8-inch aluminum pan works well; powder
should be 1/2 to 1/4 inch deep). Press meat into powder. Cover and
steam 30 minutes, or until powder has gelatinized into thick, heavy
crust. Remove from steamer and let cool.
Cover and chill until ready to complete. About 30 minutes
before serving time, prepare sweet and sour plum sauce; set aside and
keep warm. Warm a serving platter in low oven. Preheat oil in deep
fryer to 375 F. Slice duck into bite-size chunks and fry quickly in
batches until crisp and browned. Remove with slotted spoon and drain
on paper towels. Repeat until cooking is completed. Serve immediately
with sweet and sour plum sauce topped with nuts. From Bon Appetit's
"Oriental Favorites."
Servings: 6 servings
Pressed Duck With Sweet & Sour Plum Sauce Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Duck; Dutch Oven; Fruit; Meat; Poultry
The History of Recipes
It is possible to track the history of meal recipes way back into distant history, in fact as far as the ancient Egyptians, and quite possibly further than that. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early cook books were just basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
In fact, the most ancient recipe found, according to historians is a collection of ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel wonderful. Later on, in The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a number of documents showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy Romans. In his publication, Apicius recounts how the meals were split into starters, main meal and afters, known in latin as `Gustatio, Primae Mensae and Secundae Mensae`. Additionally, he recounts how the Roman cooks made use of a good variety of aromatic flavours, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs like basil, rue and parsley. Later on in the 1400s, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new spices and herbs from the East, including spices like coriander, parsley, and basil. These new spices and herbs was responsible for an explosion in manuscripts on cookery, the majority of which are now in private cookery archives. For the decades that followed, the upper-class families of the West strove to lay on the most exotic banquets, and as a result the best chefs and their recipes were greatly in demand. Even so, it was during the 19th century that cooking and cookery books rose to prominence. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, trying out, and publishing recipes to help cooks of their time. By the time we get to the 20th century, cookery publications were starting to become popular mostly due to increased literacy, people having increased free time and having more money. |
We hope you enjoy this Pressed Duck With Sweet & Sour Plum Sauce recipe.
