Mock peking duck

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ pounds Fatty, boneless pork
2 tablespoons Sherry
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 Green onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon Grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Minced garlic
1 tablespoon Brown sugar
1 teaspoon Five spice powder
3 tablespoons Flour
3 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 Egg, beaten
¼ cup Beer (flat is OK)

Directions

MARINADE

BATTER

Cut the pork into strips roughly ¼ inch by three inches. Combine marinade ingredients, and add pork. Marinate overnight.

Meanwhile, make the batter by mixing the flour and cornstarch. Beat the egg well, and add to mixture, add the beer, and mix well. Make this ahead of time and refrigerate a few hours-it can be made at the same time as the marinade, and can also sit overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, take pork out of marinade, and bake in a shalow pan for about an hour, turning occasionally and stirring to separate the strips if necessary. Remove from oven, cool to room temp., and blot off excess fat with a paper towel.

In a wok, heavy pan, or electric skillet, heat 2 cups (at least) of peanut oil to 375 degrees.

Give the batter a stir, and coat the pork strips with it. Deep fry them, about ¼ at a time, in the hot oil for about 30 seconds, poking them a little bit to separate the strips. Allow the oil to come back up to temperature in between batches. Drain the fried strips well. You can do this before you're ready to serve, and reheat if necessary.

Serve with a little hoisin sauce on the side.

The traditional way to serve real Peking duck is folded up in a peking pancake with a little hoisin sauce and some shredded scallion. IMHO, these pancakes are just too much trouble to make. If I feel like it, I make mock Peking pancakes to go with the mock Peking duck. You do it like this:

Get a pack of flour tortillas-the smaller "soft taco" or "fajita" size. Brush one side of each very lightly with sesame oil. Put the oiled sides together, so you've got a bunch of double tortillas, stuck together with sesame oil in the middle.

On an ungreased pan, cook each tortilla "sandwich" briefly on both sides (like you would heat a regular tortilla) for 10 seconds or so, until they "puff up" slightly.

Take the tortillas, put them in one stack. Wrap in aluminum foil and steam in a steamer for about 15 minutes. Separate them into individual tortillas. You now have mock peking pancakes.

To serve them with the "duck," take a "pancake," smear with a little hoisin sauce in the center. Take a little "duck", put in center, and sprinkle with a little shredded scallion to taste. Fold up like a miniture burrito, and eat.

Bill Shoemaker

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