A DATE WITH DUCK

PEKING

I had a hidden agenda when visiting Chinatown a week or so ago. I was craving Peking duck.

This famous method of preparing duck originated in Beijing when it was still called Peking. Sydney is so multicultural that here we can front up to any number of places and order it from the menu, but I wanted to do it myself. The easy way, so I saved a day or so and bought the duck ready-cooked.

Crisp-edged slices of Peking duck breast, with a dab of hoisin sauce, wrapped in paper-thin pancakes is one of life's greater pleasures. I am glad that the first time I ate this so-simple meal was in Beijing at a restaurant famous for its roast ducks, where we were seated right beside a window that gave us a perfect view of the white-coated chefs team of at work and the racks of tanned ducks which seemed to disappear and be replenished almost instantly.

A waiter solemnly brought us our duck and a little bamboo steamer with a pile of tender pancakes (I have seen them called d'oileys in some books which I think is very sweet) then gave us a mimed lesson of how to place a couple of slices of the crisp-fatty skin with a mere shred of meat on a pancake, add some sauce and then top this with a spear of green onion and cucumber. He then folded the bottom edge over the filling, and rolled the pancake so we had a neat little bundle. It wasn't hard to learn what to do. The more difficult thing was to stop eating them.

Since then of course we have enjoyed this dish several times and now that I know where to look in an Asian grocery shop I buy the wrappers and keep a pack on hand in my freezer. It's a matter of moments to microwave them and have them ready to use. I simply keep them covered (wrapped in a serviette is fine for me, although I could unearth a steamer basket) and we sauce and wrap them until we can't eat another bite.

This time, though, when I bought the barbecue duck I asked them to leave it un-cleavered so that after I had carved off the meat for our pancakes for one meal, I was left with a carcass still with plenty of good edible duck-meat on it.

What to do? For starters I broke it into portions and put it in a pot, simmering it for an hour until the meat was tender and the bones released the meat without argument. If I had let the chopper-man in Chinatown have his way, I would have had villainous slivers of bone to contend with so I was glad I had earned a funny look when buying it. It was worth it.

I then picked off all the shreds of meat and strained the stock to use in a risotto that was formulating in my mind. I ended up with too much stock, but I froze the remainder and it's now awaiting a further incarnation in some other dish.

The result was a truly excellent - non-Chinese dish, with overtones of Asia meets Italy that I felt was the ideal Day 2 use of a BBQ duck. Let me know what you think.

1-2 tablespoons oil (peanut oil with a dash of sesame oil for a more Asian twist)
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
4-6 cups hot duck or chicken stock
shredded duck meat
5 fresh dates, pitted and halved
1 teaspoon grated root ginger
grated rind of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
small bunch of enoki mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
fresh coriander to garnish

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add 1 cup stock and stirring occasionally until almost absorbed. Add duck and more stock, stirring constantly. Keep adding stock as it is absorbed. About halfway through add dates and ginger, then continue until rice is almost cooked. Stir in lemon rind and juice. Season to taste and stir well to allow the risotto to become glossy but not too thick. Serve garnished with coriander and a few fresh enoki mushrooms. Serves 4.