Name: Crispy Chinese duck with peaches
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 3 h 5 min
Total time: 4 h 5 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 duck about 2-2.5kg/4lb 8oz-5lb 8oz; 1 peach; 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; 2 tsp Sichuan pepper; 2 tsp sea salt; jasmine rice and shredded spring onions, to serve; 5 peaches halved and stoned; 2 tbsp honey; 2 tbsp Japanese or rice wine vinegar; 3 tbsp sesame oil; 2 tbsp chopped ginger; 6 tbsp hoisin sauce; 2 tsp toasted sesame seed

1 duck
about 2-2.5kg/4lb 8oz-5lb 8oz
1 peach
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 tsp Sichuan pepper
2 tsp sea salt
jasmine rice
and shredded spring onions, to serve

For the peaches

5 peaches
halved and stoned
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Japanese or rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp chopped ginger
6 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame seed

Method

step 1
Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Prick the duck skin all over with a fork – don’t go too deep or you’ll puncture the meat instead and lose all the juices during cooking. Push the whole peach up into the duck’s cavity, neatly tuck in any excess fat and tie the legs together with string. Using a pestle and mortar, grind together the Chinese five-spice, Sichuan pepper and sea salt. Rub all over the duck and sit, breast-side down, on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast for 3 hrs.
step 2
Meanwhile, put the peaches, cut-side up, in a snug-ish ovenproof dish. Mix the honey, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and hoisin with 3 tbsp water. Pour over the peaches, then scatter over the sesame seeds.
step 3
Lift the duck out of the oven and drain off any fat in the tin. Turn up the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and flip the duck over so it is now breast-side up. Roast for 30 mins more, with the peaches on the shelf below, until the duck is brown and crispy and the peaches are tender. Serve with jasmine rice and shredded spring onions.