The aroma of beer permeates every fiber of the duck, making your beer-steamed duck dish smoother and sweeter than ever. In weather like this, start making a pot of nutritious steamed duck with beer to enjoy with the whole family!
1. How to choose and calculate suitable beer-steamed duck ingredients
Duck steamed with beer is a delicious, nutritious dish and not difficult to make. Therefore, this dish is not only popular in families at gatherings but is also selected on the menu of famous restaurants and duck shops. Depending on each specific case, the way to choose raw materials as well as the calculation volume will be different.
For example, when eating at home, you only need to choose a duck with a weight of 1.3kg – 2kg to be delicious and just enough. But if making a feast or on a restaurant or industrial scale, the chefs will usually choose large, thick ducks with a weight of 3kg – 3.5kg.
Or you can also estimate the amount of raw duck needed based on the actual eating needs of each user. For example: Adults eat about 300g, children eat about 200g, then a family of 4 adults and 2 children will need about 1.6kg of raw duck which is reasonable. From here, if you choose a big, delicious, thick duck, you only need to buy half a duck and that’s enough. If you don’t have a big duck, it’s reasonable to buy a whole duck, about 1.5kg – 1.6kg.
To choose duck steamed with beer delicious ingredients, you should choose ducks according to the following standards:
First, the duck must be alive, freshness is better than frozen duck.
Do not choose young ducks or ducks that are too old because young ducks have meat that quickly becomes mushy and smelly, and it takes a lot of time to clean the feathers. As for old ducks, the meat is tough and difficult to eat. If you want to know if a duck is old or young, you can look at its beak. Older ducks have small, dark yellow beaks, while young ducks often have large, soft beaks. It’s best to choose an adult male duck that has grown enough feathers and has characteristics such as: Round breast, thick neck and belly area when you touch it, it means it has a lot of meat, feels heavy when picked up, and the belly doesn’t sag. (If the belly is sagging, it means it is a female duck, has given birth many times, so the food is chewy and not as fragrant as a male duck). In addition to looking at their bellies, you can also distinguish male and female ducks through their shape and voice. Accordingly, female ducks usually have a small head, a big butt, a clear and clear voice, dark brown eyes, and when pressed on the genitals, there will be no small tube protruding. A male duck will have a big head, a small butt, a dull and hoarse voice, round eyes that are light brown in color, and when pressed on the genitals, a small tube will protrude.
If you buy a ready-made meat duck, in addition to considering the weight, you should also observe whether the skin is pink or white, has plenty of meat, no odor, and has all the parts. When turning the wings or inner thighs, there are no red or black spots. . If there are red or black spots, be careful, you may get caught by a duck injecting medicine or water pump, so you should ignore it.
2. Ingredients needed to prepare duck steamed with beer
Basic ingredients to make delicious steamed duck with beer (Photo: Anhtp).
In addition to the main ingredient duck, you also need to prepare some other ingredients such as:
Beer: 1-2 cans. For every half steamed chicken, use 1 330ml can.
Lemongrass: 3 – 6 plants. Steam each half with 3 lemongrass sticks and medium.
Ginger: 1 branch
Lime leaves or mac honey leaves: Both of these leaves have aromatic effects, giving a pleasant meat smell and increasing the appeal when enjoying the dish. duck steamed with beer. So depending on what type of leaf you prepare, use that leaf to steam together. Just a pinch is enough, you don’t need much.
Chili pepper: 2-3 depending on spiciness. To reduce spiciness or in case you don’t have fresh chili, you can replace it with chili sauce or satay.
Basic spices: salt, MSG, pepper,…
3. How to prepare beer-steamed duck ingredients
With meatless ducks: You need to cut the blood and make the feathers clean.
With ready-made meat duck: You take it home, wash it and deodorize it.
3.1. How to clean duck feathers quickly
If you are unlucky enough to get a young duck with a lot of feathers or an old duck, you can quickly clean the feathers by simply doing the following:
For young ducks, sprinkle a little vinegar on the newly cut duck’s feathers for about 5-7 minutes, then pour boiling water and make the feathers as usual. At that time, the meat is softer and the feathers are easier to pluck. With downy feathers, you only need to rub your hands when plucking the feathers to clean it.
For old ducks, 3 hours before cutting the blood, you can give it a few spoons of vinegar to drink. When trimming or feathering, the fluff will not grow and it will be easier to keep the feathers clean.
3.2. How to remove duck odor before steaming
To remove the bad smell of raw duck before steaming, you can use salt, vinegar or a little white wine to clean the entire duck’s body, especially the parts that emit odors such as the mouth, belly, fishing rods, etc. Rinse with water.
3.3. Prepare other ingredients
With lemongrass, you peel off the outer skin, crush the head and chop the root. Leave the roll to steam with duck and beer.
Clean and chop the ginger to marinate with the duck
Wash chili, lime leaves or mac gall leaves and chop finely.
Detailed steps to prepare duck steamed with beer (Photo: Anhtp).
Mix minced lemongrass and ginger together with 2 tablespoons of MSG and 1 tablespoon of soup powder.
Slice the duck into strips so that when the spices are marinated, they will be absorbed more evenly into the duck.
Spread spices, lemongrass, and ginger mixed on the skin and each piece of duck.
Leave the duck to marinate for 10 minutes for the spices to absorb.
4.2. Steam duck
Remove the pot, put 1 330ml can of beer in the pot, and fold the remaining lemongrass stalks into the beer for a more attractive aroma.
Place the steamer basket and place the marinated duck on the basket.
Add 2-3 fresh chili peppers and lemon leaves or mac honey leaves and steam together.
Turn on the steamer at medium heat for about 40 – 45 minutes to let the duck cook completely.
After about 20 minutes of steaming, open the lid to check once to see if the duck is still red. You can look at the cut or use a toothpick to poke it to see if there is red juice oozing out. You can flip the duck so that it cooks evenly on both sides. After flipping, continue to cover the pot tightly and steam for another 20 minutes on the other side.
Check the beer below. If the beer is empty, you can add 1 or 1/2 more cans of beer to make sure the bottom of the pot doesn’t burn.
Detailed steps to make steamed duck with beer (Photo: Anhtp).
When dish duck steamed with beer Once ripe, you will feel a very attractive aroma blending between the smell of beer, lemongrass and lime leaves. The presentation is quite simple, you can add some herbs below, then chop the duck into bite-sized pieces and arrange on top. You can add 1-2 carrot or cucumber flowers and place them on top for a beautiful look. Once the presentation is complete, you can enjoy it with the whole family!
