Clean and refreshing, wonderfully savory—first the crispness of the lettuce, then the dry, fluffy texture of the minced duck.
Duck floss is a dish that most home cooks overlook. Duck meat has fewer cooking methods compared to other meats, so each preparation can be considered a well-refined classic. The key to this dish is achieving a dry, fluffy texture, so both the duck meat and winter bamboo shoots need to be pre-treated before the actual stir-frying. In particular, the duck floss is dry-fried twice to eliminate any gamey smell and moisture, becoming extremely dry and fluffy while retaining only its pure, fresh aroma. It is then seasoned with the "Three Musketeers of Cantonese cuisine"—oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce—and flash-fried over high heat to achieve an intense "wok hei" (breath of the wok). Finally, it is wrapped in crisp, refreshing lettuce leaves and served with a small dish of hoisin sauce—absolutely delightful!
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
Duck legs 2 (about 500 g / 1 lb)
Duck legs have the perfect balance of fat, lean meat, and skin, giving them the best texture, while a whole duck is a close second.
Additional Ingredients
100 g (about 3.5 oz) total of winter bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and fresh mushrooms
Seasonings
light soy sauce 15 ml (about 1 tablespoon)
10 g (about 2 teaspoons) oyster sauce
15 g (about 1 tablespoon) Shaoxing wine
pepper 2 g
1 g salt
minced ginger and garlic, a small amount of each
Dark soy sauce a few drops
egg yolk liquid to taste
a drizzle of sesame oil
Instructions
Instructions
Preparation
Step 1: Remove the bones from the duck legs (Image 2) and chop the meat into rice-grain-sized pieces. Mix in 1 g salt, a splash of Shaoxing wine, and some egg yolk until well combined (Image 3). Mince the ginger and garlic and set aside.
*It is best to finely dice the duck meat by hand; if you mince it in a food processor, the meat will clump together when stir-fried and won't separate cleanly.
*Tossing the meat with a little egg yolk helps prevent it from sticking to the pan during stir-frying and also keeps the meat tender.
Step 2: Finely dice the winter bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and fresh mushrooms (Image 4), blanch them briefly (Image 5), then drain in a fine-mesh sieve and squeeze out excess moisture. Dry-fry them in a non-oiled wok over high heat for 1 minute to remove any remaining water (Image 6), then remove and set aside.
*After blanching, these three ingredients tend to stick to the pan when dry-fried, so use a spatula to stir them quickly.
Stir-fry the minced duck: Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add the minced duck and stir-fry until it changes color and becomes fragrant, then remove and set aside.
Pour a small amount of oil into the wok and heat to around 60% hot (medium-high heat). Add the diced duck and quickly stir-fry over medium heat to break it apart, then turn the heat to high and continue stir-frying until the moisture evaporates, about 5 minutes. Squeeze out any excess liquid and oil (Image 7).
*When adding the raw duck meat, make sure the oil temperature isn't too high, otherwise the minced duck will clump together quickly; stir-fry over medium heat until fully separated, then turn up the heat to high and stir-fry until dry.
*After stir-frying, pour into a fine-mesh strainer and press out excess moisture and oil with a large spoon.
④ Clean the wok, add a little oil and heat until it reaches 70% hot, then add minced ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant (Image 8). Add the minced duck, winter bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and fresh mushrooms, and stir-fry over high heat to break everything apart. Then add Shaoxing wine and stir-fry over medium heat until there is almost no steam rising (Image 9).
*Toward the end of stir-frying, watch for any white steam still rising—if there's none, it's nearly done, but be careful not to dry it out too much or it won't taste good.
Then add light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and white pepper, along with a few drops of dark soy sauce, and stir-fry over medium heat for 2 minutes (Image 10). Finish with a drizzle of sesame oil before removing from heat. Serve by wrapping the mixture in clean lettuce leaves or dipping it in sauce.
This recipe is versatile and can be adapted to your liking.
This method works well with various meats, such as the famous pigeon or shrimp mince in Cantonese cuisine. However, different ingredients require slight adjustments in the stir-frying process—for example, shrimp and pigeon mince are very tender, so they should not be cooked for too long and need high heat. In short, adjust the heat according to the ingredient!