Sesame-Glazed Duck Legs With Spicy Persimmon Salad

Name: Sesame-Glazed Duck Legs With Spicy Persimmon Salad
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns; 3 tablespoons flaky salt; 6 duck legs (about 5 pounds), preferably moulard duck, trimmed of excess fat; 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks, lightly crushed; 12 star anise pods, lightly crushed; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil; 1 teaspoon Chinese spicy fermented bean paste (doubanjiang); 3 tablespoons brown sugar; 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice; 4 small Fuyu persimmons, peeled and cut in wedges; 2 navel oranges, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch rounds; 1 cup peeled and thinly sliced daikon radish or watermelon radish; 1 or 2 Serrano chiles, to taste, seeded if you like and very thinly sliced; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger; 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil; Salt and pepper; 3/4 cup pomegranate seeds; 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions; 1 bunch cilantro, top sprigs only, for garnish

By David Tanis

Total Time: 2½ hours
Rating: 5(135)
Comments: Read comments

Some Chinese cookbooks recommend steaming duck to tender perfection before roasting it to crisp the skin. It is a good technique to master, and works especially well with large moulard duck legs. You get moist tender duck, and a bonus pot full of rendered duck fat. (You can steam the duck up to 6 hours in advance of roasting it.) The accompanying salad of persimmons, oranges, pomegranate and daikon radish gets a kick from Serrano chile, lime juice, freshly grated ginger and sesame oil. Be sure to use Fuyu persimmons, which can be eaten unripe. (The long, pointy Hachiya persimmon must be completely ripe to be palatable.) It’s worth mixing up a batch of fragrant, flavorful Sichuan pepper salt, both for this recipe and to have a little extra on hand to use as an all-purpose seasoning; if you can’t find Sichuan peppercorns in a store, online spice merchants will have them.

Featured in: The Duck That Came In From the Cold

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

For the Duck Legs

2tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns
3tablespoons flaky salt
6duck legs (about 5 pounds), preferably moulard duck, trimmed of excess fat
2 or 3cinnamon sticks, lightly crushed
12star anise pods, lightly crushed
1tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

For the Glaze

2tablespoons soy sauce
1tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1teaspoon Chinese spicy fermented bean paste (doubanjiang)
3tablespoons brown sugar
2tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

For the Salad

4small Fuyu persimmons, peeled and cut in wedges
2navel oranges, peeled and cut crosswise into ¼-inch rounds
1cup peeled and thinly sliced daikon radish or watermelon radish
1 or 2Serrano chiles, to taste, seeded if you like and very thinly sliced
2tablespoons lime juice
1teaspoon finely grated ginger
2teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Salt and pepper
¾cup pomegranate seeds
¼cup thinly sliced scallions
1bunch cilantro, top sprigs only, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Make Sichuan pepper salt: Put Sichuan peppercorns and salt in a dry small skillet over medium-high heat. Shaking the pan and stirring frequently, toast mixture until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool, then grind coarsely with a mortar and pestle or spice mill.
Step 2
Season duck legs all over with Sichuan pepper salt, then wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Step 3
Set up a steamer: Fill a large pot halfway with water and set a steamer basket 2 inches above the water. Place crushed cinnamon and star anise on the bottom of steamer basket, then lay seasoned duck legs on top.
Step 4
Cover with a lid and bring water to a hard boil over high heat. Reduce heat slightly to maintain a brisker simmer. (Check water level occasionally and add more boiling water as necessary.) Steam legs until tender when pierced with a thin-bladed knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes; start checking at 1 hour. Remove legs and set aside. (They may be left at room temperature for an hour or so before roasting, or you can steam the legs up to 6 hours before roasting and refrigerate, covered. Re-steam the refrigerated legs for 15 minutes to soften before proceeding.)
Step 5
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put legs on a rack set over a foil-lined baking sheet and roast uncovered for about 30 minutes, until skin begins to crisp.
Step 6
As legs roast, make the glaze: Whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, bean paste, brown sugar and orange juice. Once the legs have been in the oven for 30 minutes, brush them generously with glaze and roast for 30 minutes more (for a total cooking time of 1 hour), brushing them again every 10 minutes. Transfer legs to a serving platter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Step 7
Make the salad: Put persimmons, oranges, daikon, chiles, lime juice, ginger and sesame oil in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and toss gently to coat. Transfer salad to platter with duck legs. Drizzle with any remaining juices from bowl. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, scallions and cilantro sprigs.

Tip

Don’t discard the liquid left in the steaming pot. It contains two bonus ingredients to save for later: rendered duck fat and a small amount of concentrated duck broth. The two will separate when refrigerated.

Ratings

5 out of 5

135 user ratings

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Comments

Bush6 years ago

No Duck No Problem. Did it with chicken-deliciously perfumed by the star anise and cinnamon. Also use pink peppercorn which also imparted in subtle note.

Jack6 years ago

Doubanjiang is not "spicy black bean paste" -- rather it is a fermented bean paste made of broad (fava) beans.

Jg6 years ago

I made the duck as written and it was fabulous. I added some treviso and escarole to the salad and the bitterness of the greens was a nice counterpart to the sweetness of the persimmons and oranges.

stefanie1 month ago

I didn't have Sichuan peppercorns so I used black; to comoensate, I did 1 tbsp less salt and subbed in the zest of 1 whole lemon. Marinated for 3 hours before steaming. I jerry-rigged a steamer out of a metal colander over a stock pot; it worked great. I also roasted on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil (no rack) - I can see why the rack would be handy as you'd be able to catch all the excess duck fat in the tray and reuse, but I didn't have one. They came out A-PLUS. My fiancé kept exclaiming while he was eating, called them "restaurant quality" and at the end told me he was sad to eat the last few bites because he didn't want it to be over. I'll definitely make these again for a special occasion or dinner party. As an added bonus- our house still smells amazing even 2 hours later!

Lucy2 months ago

Although the recipe doesn’t call for rinsing the salt from the duck after the marinade, I did rinse them off, as I would do for confit. I don’t regret it. Reserve a teaspoon of the Szechuan peppercorn salt and season the duck legs lightly before steaming for a good level of salt. This dish was well received. We cannot get persimmon at this time of year so I improvised with the salad ingredients but it’s really the dressing that pulls it all together.

soigne1 year ago

I used my air fryer for the dry cooking. 30 minutes at 365, with the glaze going on at 20 minutes was plenty cooking. So tasty and a great technique.

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