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Crispy Duck Fried Rice
Fried rice is one of the best things you can throw together in under 20 minutes — but what if you gave it more intention? I’m answering that question, I mean imagine how good fried rice could be if you treated it like it was a star. Instead of the usual steak, chicken or shrimp, I went with duck legs. I started by curing the duck overnight with salt, sugar, star anise, Szechuan peppercorns, and orange zest. That cure seasons the meat deeply and draws out moisture — so the skin crisps up even better later on. The next day, I rinsed off the cure and slowly confited the duck in its own fat with scallion, garlic, and ginger. Low and slow, until the meat was pull-apart tender and those aromatics made friends with everybody. Separated the skin, shredded the meat, and crisped that skin up in the duck fat from earlier — chopped it up for a rich, crunchy garnish. The rest is pretty standard fried rice procedure–and we have all that insanely delicious duck fat to play with. In I crisped up the shredded duck in more of that insanely delicious infused fat, added shallot, fresno chili, ginger and garlic, and let those aromatics bloom. In goes day old rice, to soak up all that flavor. Seasoned it up, and pro tip: add the soy sauce around the rim of the wok. it’ll caramelize on contact, building wok hei, the smoky slightly charred flavor we love. This was SO good, but truthfully, a 20 minute fried rice gives you way more bang for your buck in therms of time and effort. This is a fun weekend project though.
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