Salt Brined Duck

⏱ 1 hour active 🔥 176 kcal 💪 28 g protein 🍗 6 servings

Instructions

1 Add salt, star anise, and peppercorn to a pot, saute on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, or until the spices are fragrant, and the salt turns into light brown color.

2 Add water, scallions, and ginger, bring to a boil.

3 Add the duck legs and Shaoxing rice wine, cover and let it simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes, or until the center of the duck leg reaches 165 F, and the juice comes out clear.

4 Soak the duck legs in ice water to stop cooking, keep them in the fridge. Remove all the spices from the brine, let the brine cool to room temperature.

5 Remove the duck legs from the ice water, pour cooled brine to submerge the duck legs. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight.

6 Take out the duck legs, pat dry using a paper towel, cut into pieces and serve cold.

Tips

1 Salt brined duck is a classic Nanjing dish. The traditional way of making this dish has a lot of steps and takes a long time. I simplified the recipe so that you can still taste the classic flavor without going through all the process.

2 Scale the recipe: You can use duck legs, whole duck, or duck breast for this recipe. The salt concentration for the brine is 6% (1200 mL water x 6% = 72 g salt). If you are scaling the recipe up or down, first estimate how much water you need to submerge your duck, then calculate the amount of salt you need. If you are cooking less meat, you may need less than 45 minutes to reach a center temperature of 165 F, check the temperature periodically to avoid overcooking.

3 Sodium: Salt brined foods are high in sodium in general, so it is best to share this dish with family and friends on special occasions. It is hard to estimate the sodium content since the brine is not consumed. Here is how I estimated the sodium content. According to the Chinese CDC food composition database, the average store brought salt brined duck has about 50% water. Assume that the water retained in the duck has the same salt concentration as the brine, 6%, each leg (114 g cooked, after removing skin) will have about 1438 mg sodium.