Crispy duck in garlic sauce – made in a pressure cooker

A whole duck is cooked in a pressure cooker and then pan-fried to make the crispiest duck skin ever. This crispy garlic duck in garlic sauce with broccoli is better than any takeaway I’ve ever had!!!

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Crispy duck in garlic sauce

I have to admit I love duck. It features on our menu at least once a month in some form or other. My favourite way is to roast it whole in the oven, so that the skin turns lovely and crispy, and then serve it with roast potatoes and vegetables.

Another way I like to serve duck is this recipe for crispy duck in garlic sauce, which I am sharing today. It’s made with slices of crispy-skinned duck breast in a thick garlic-flavoured sauce, with lots of crunchy vegetables, and served with either Chinese noodles or white rice.

Crispy duck in garlic sauce is hubby’s number one choice when it comes to ordering a Chinese takeaway. But I have to say even he was surprised at how well this recipe turned out. His comment – ‘this is so much better than a takeaway – you’ve got to make it again!’. I call that a success!

There is a twist to this recipe too – instead of pan frying the duck breasts, I’m going to be preparing a whole duck in a pressure cooker! This way there will be enough meat to make crispy duck in garlic sauce from the breasts, with enough meat leftover from the remaining duck for a meal of Chinese duck pancakes with hoisin sauce.

I have based this recipe on one whole duck, which will make either 2 meals for 2 people, or one meal for 4 people. For the crispy duck in garlic sauce I have only used the breasts and this is sufficient for 1 meal for 2 people with the remainder of the duck being saved for another meal. If you want to make this recipe for 4 people, you can just add the duck legs and the meat from the carcass (along with the breasts) to the sauce, and double the sauce and vegetable ingredients.

Why would you want to cook a duck in the pressure cooker?

There are a lot of advantages to cooking a duck in the pressure cooker.

• It only takes 40 minutes to get a perfectly cooked duck, and another 10 minutes to crisp up the skin in a frying pan.
• The meat turns out so juicy and succulent and so tender that the duck practically carves itself! I often find with a roast duck that the legs tend to be difficult to remove. With a pressure-cooked duck, the legs pull away from the carcass with no resistance whatsoever.
• Ducks are quite fatty, but by cooking the duck in the pressure cooker, a lot of the fat cooks out of the bird and stays behind in the cooking juices.

How to cook a duck in the pressure cooker

The instructions and timings are for a 1.8kg (about 4 lb) duck. I used a Pressure King Pro electric pressure cooker.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your own pressure cooker.

Snip off the wing tips with a pair of kitchen shears and discard them. Cut away any excess skin from around the neck and pull away any visible fat from inside the neck cavity. Sprinkle the duck with about 1 teaspoon of salt, and rub it well into the skin.

Brown the duck

The skin that was cut away from the neck contains a lot of fat so we can use this to brown the duck. Place the skin into a large frying pan along with any fat that you removed, and turn on the heat. Once the fat starts to render, add the duck and allow it to brown it on all sides, turning frequently. You may need to use a pair of tongs to hold the duck in position while it browns.

Browning the duck will take 5 to 10 minutes. You can skip this step, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Browned skin = more flavour.

You will find that a lot of fat will start to cook out from the duck as you are browning it. You can save the duck fat for making crispy roast potatoes.

Place the browned duck into the pressure cooker and add 1 cup of chicken stock. I don’t add any additional flavourings at this stage because I want to be able to use the meat in a variety of different dishes – so all the flavour will be added when I make those dishes.

Cook on full power for 40 minutes (or use the ‘Stew’ function). The first time I cooked a duck in a pressure cooker I only cooked it for 30 minutes and I found this wasn’t quite enough. 40 minutes is the perfect timing for me. I would suggest you start off with 30 minutes and if necessary cook the duck again for the extra time. It all depends on the size of your duck and your own particular pressure cooker.

Release the pressure and allow the duck to cool slightly before removing it onto a carving board.

How to crisp the duck skin

Once the duck is cool enough to handle, you can remove the legs and the breasts.

• Using a sharp knife, cut through the skin between the leg and the carcass and gently pull the leg away. The leg should come away easily. If it doesn’t, just cut through the joint between the carcass and the leg with a sharp knife. Repeat with the other leg.
• Now run the knife along the side of the backbone and gently prise the breast away from the carcass, Cut through any skin or sinews holding onto the breast. The entire side of breast should come away cleanly. Repeat on the other side.
• Now remove as much meat as possible from the rest of the carcass, discarding any skin. You can use this meat to make Hoisin Duck Pancakes.

Place the duck breasts and legs skin side down in a dry frying pan (image 2 above) and fry over a low heat for about 5 minutes until the skin has turned crispy. There will be plenty of fat left under the skin so you won’t need to add any additional oil.

Remove the meat from the duck legs and shred it. Also, slice up the crispy skin. Add this to the meat that was removed from the carcass and save for another meal. You can freeze this meat in a Ziploc bag for up to 3 months.

Slice the breasts thinly (image 4 above) and set aside while you prepare the garlic sauce and vegetables for the crispy duck in garlic sauce.

How to make the crispy duck in garlic sauce

Now that we’ve got the duck ready, it’s time to get on with making the sauce. This won’t take long.

Ingredients

This looks like a lot of ingredients, but if we break it down into the different components, it’s not really too many.

Duck breasts – already prepared, as above.

Vegetables – the choice here is up to you. I like to use:

• Broccoli – either tenderstem or florets – I’ve used a mixture of both here.
• Onions – cut into quarters and the petals separated.
• Carrots – cut into thin batons.
• Sugarsnap peas – cut in half.

You can use whatever mixture of vegetables you prefer – just make sure to allow about 1 cup per person. Bean sprouts and mushrooms would go well with this dish, as would some sliced red or yellow peppers (capsicums), sliced green beans and sliced leeks.

Flavourings

• Garlic – at least 3 cloves, this is called crispy duck with garlic sauce for a reason :). If you don’t have fresh garlic, just use the equivalent amount of crushed garlic from a jar.
• Soy sauce and oyster sauce – for the Oriental flavour
• 5-spice powder – this goes really well with duck
• Brown sugar and rice wine vinegar for tang and a hint of sweetness
• Tomato puree – this is thick concentrated tomatoes. You can substitute it with tomato paste. Don’t use tomato ketchup.
• Chicken stock cube – dissolved in 1 cup of boiling water
• Cornflour (or cornstarch) – for thickening
• Spring onion – for garnish

Sunflower oil (not pictured) – for frying the onions (or you could use some of the duck fat instead)

What to do

Prepare the vegetables

• Peel and chop the onions into quarters or 1/6th (depending on size). Separate the cut onions into petals.
• Crush or finely chop the garlic.
• Peel the carrots and cut them into thin batons.
• Separate the broccoli into florets.
• Cut the sugarsnaps in half.
• Thinly slice the spring onion. This will be used for garnish.

Make the stock

• Dissolve the stock cube in one cup of boiling water.
• Mix in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato puree and 5-spice powder. Set aside until it’s time to add to the vegetables.

Make the sauce for the crispy duck

• Fry the onions, garlic and carrots in 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil (or you could use a tablespoon of fat leftover from the duck) until they start to soften (image 1 above).
• Pour in the prepared stock and add all the remaining vegetables with the exception of the spring onions (image 2 above).
• Cover with a lid, turn the heat down to a simmer and allow to cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the vegetables are cooked, but still crispy.
• Mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water and drizzle it into the sauce, and stir until the sauce thickens.
• Add the duck (image 3 above), stir and leave on a low heat for 2 minutes until piping hot.
• Serve immediately with either Chinese noodles or white rice.

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Freezing the duck

If you want to freeze any leftovers, just pack the cooled leftovers into a suitable freezer container and freeze for up to three months.

To reheat, defrost in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat in a saucepan or microwave until piping hot and serve immediately.

As mentioned above, you can also freeze any meat leftover from the duck. Pack the cooled, shredded meat into freezer containers and freeze for up to three months.

Defrost the cooked meat in the refrigerator and use it in a variety of dishes

• hoisin duck pancakes
• make duck lo mein by adding the defrosted duck to this recipe for vegetable lo mein. Just add the duck to the vegetables at the same time you add the sauce (step 4 in the vegetable lo mein recipe).
• use the duck meat instead of chicken to make Thai green duck curry. Follow the instructions for making the green curry sauce in this recipe for Thai Green Chicken Curry. Add the cooked shredded duck meat to the curry sauce and allow it to heat through before serving.

Make a whole crispy duck

If you want to serve the pressure cooker duck whole, you could just transfer the whole duck from the pressure cooker to a baking dish and place the duck under a grill or broiler until the skin crisps.

Don’t put the duck too near the grill or you stand the chance of the skin burning before it crisps.

Keep your eye on it, and turn it a few times to ensure the skin crisps all the way around.

Serve with roast potatoes and your choice of vegetables.

Additional resources

Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas marks.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.

Crispy duck in garlic sauce recipe

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