Tea-Smoked Duck with Smoked Walnuts
Recipe courtesy of California Walnuts
Ingredients:
¼ cup soy sauce, naturally brewed
2 tbsp.+½ cup Chinese black tea (divided)
2 tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns, toasted, crushed
1 tsp. five-spice powder
3 to 4 cups water, as needed
4 duck breasts, skin removed and reserved
24 California walnuts, whole, in-shell
Oil, as needed
Salt, as needed
2 ozs. hickory wood
½ cup brown sugar
8 mandarin pancakes or small tortillas
¼ cup plum or hoisin sauce
8 scallions, sliced on bias very thinly
Cooking Directions:
- Mix soy sauce, 2 tbsp. black tea, peppercorns and five-spice powder with 3 cups water. Remove all visible fat from duck. Place in nonreactive bowl, cover with mixture and add additional water if necessary to barely cover.
- Crack walnuts slightly, but leave in shell and add to marinade. Cryovac for 1 hour at room temperature or marinate in refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Chill duck skin and slice into thin strips about 1/8-inch wide. Fry skin in oil until very crispy. Drain and season.
- Mix 1/2 cup black tea, hickory wood and sugar, and smoke-cook duck on a stovetop smoker with low flame for about 30 minutes, or until 130° F at thickest point. Fifteen minutes before duck is ready, add cracked walnuts to smoker.
- Remove duck and walnuts. Shell nuts. Slice duck.
- Heat pancakes until warmed and spread each with 1 tsp. sauce. Add duck, walnuts, scallions and crisped skin and serve.
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