The Chef
Anita Lo of Annisa and Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

Servings
Serves 4

Ingredients
Glaze
1/2 cup maltose syrup (2 parts mild honey mixed with 1 part corn syrup can be substituted)
1/2 cup Japanese unseasoned rice-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder
Duck
6-pound Long Island duck
3 tablespoons peanut oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
To smoke
1 cup Lapsang Souchong tea
1 cup uncooked white rice
1 cup dark-brown sugar

Cooking Instructions
Glaze
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Set aside. 
Duck
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Hold the duck by the neck and very quickly dunk the bird into the boiling water once or twice until the skin tightens. (Do not let the meat start to cook.) Allow the skin to dry before ladling the glaze over the skin on each side of the bird until well coated, allowing the glaze to cool before repeating. Hang the duck overnight (or set on a rack to allow the air to circulate) in a cool, dry place and dry completely. The skin should be hard, tight, and smooth. Before smoking, brush the duck with oil and season inside and out with salt and pepper.
To smoke
Build a fire on one side of the grill. Fill a tinfoil pan with the smoking ingredients. When the coals are hot and covered with a gray ash, and the internal temperature of the grill registers about 300 degrees, place the pan directly on top of the coals. Set another large tinfoil pan on the opposite side from the coals, return the grate to the grill, and set the duck away from the heat over the large tinfoil pan to catch the fat. Cover the grill, leaving the top vents open, and slow-cook the duck for 2 hours. Do not open the grill for the first 45 minutes of the smoking process. After this period, more coals can be added to the fire to maintain the internal temperature of the grill at about 300 degrees. Brush the duck with peanut oil after the first 45 minutes and then every half hour. When finished, the duck should be crispy and the fat should be mostly rendered.  Cut the duck into pieces and serve with chilled sesame noodles.

Best With
Chilled Sesame Noodles with Julienned Vegetables

Photograph by Mitchell Feinberg