Pet Palo - Steamed Duck with Chinese Influence
This recipe is to steam a 4 pound duck. As described here it is best
cooked in one of the combination electric steamer/pans popular in
Thailand: these have a largish pan that can be used as a frying
pan/skillet or as a sauce-pan, and on this a steamer large enough for
the duck sits. The whole is plugged into the mains electricity and is
elegant enough to place on the table. I leave it to the ingenuity of the
reader to work out how to do this in other equiment.
Maggi Sauce (a thick black sauce made by the Swiss company Maggi) is now
a traditional ingredient in many Thai dishes.Base Sauce.
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Mix equal parts of Maggi seasoning suace, mushroom soy sauce, Oyster
sauce, and dark sweet soy sauce, varying the quantities slightly
according to taste, to make up three cups of base sauce.Sauce. (additional ingredients)
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6 cups water
8-12 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
quarter cup chopped cilantro/coriander (including the roots if poss)
1-2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fish sauce (this is the "salty" flavor - to taste
3 cups base sauce (above)
half cup palm sugar.method.
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Place the water in the base of the steamer and bring to a boil. Add the
other ingredients, and stir until it is boiling then reduce heat to
simmering point. Put the duck in the top container and steam for 35-40
minutes. At which point the duck should be nearly cooked. Turn off the
heat, and allow the duck to cool until you can handle it (professional
chefs with asbestos hands probably don't need to let it cool at all),
remove the legs and wings, then fillet the duck. Place all the meat, the
wings and the legs in the sauce, and keep the bones to make soup stock.
Place the base pan on the table with the lid in place, and about 15
minutes before you want to eat switch it back on. This will complete the
cooking and allow the meat to absorb the flavor of the sauce. Provide a
pair of chopsticks so the diners can serve themselves. You will also
need a small ladle to serve the sauce.
Serve with chillis marinated in dark sweet soy and fresh ground ginger
as condiments, and either steamed jasmine rice or sticky rice.
Footnote: this is how we serve it to an adult table -- when children are
present we serve the meat to each diner and decant the sauce into a
sauceboat: it prevents fights over the legs!
Special thanks to - Muoi Khuntilanont.