A few weeks ago, Grandma gave me a quarter of a butchered duck. She told me some relatives had recently slaughtered it and they brought it to her as a present. When visiting relatives in China, it’s customary to bring a gift – fruit is usually best and most appreciated, but when your family come from the countryside, it’s not uncommon for them to give some meat – usually from the pigs, chickens or ducks they raised themselves.

The piece of meat sat in the freezer for weeks while I thought about how best to cook it. I considered doing Peking Duck. But that required an entire duck, not part of a duck.

My Mom gave me a really handy cooking book before I left to Hong Kong called “Everyday Chinese”. I’ve used a few recipes in the book and they turned out quite good. So I decided to follow their “Chinese Crispy Duck” recipe tonight.

Making the duck comes at an odd time for me, considering just 3 days ago I bought two little ducklings and are now raising them as pets in a big cardboard box that sits in our guest room. During the day, I take them outside to our balcony where they sunbathe and go swimming in the little plastic tub that I fill with water. I feed them boiled noodles, diced up veggies and eggs.

I didn’t want to buy the ducks at first because 1) they were going to be a lot of work cleaning up after every day and 2) I knew we couldn’t keep them forever. These ducks were sold in the old part of town on the side of the street. People bought them in batches and after 60 days when they are fully grown, I’m sure everyone slaughters and eats them. So I wasn’t sure how we were really going to do this – buy these ducks and raise them as pets, knowing that in about two months time they’d grow so large that we couldn’t handle them anymore in the apartment… and then what?

I thought about delivering them to relatives who live in the countryside (not the same ones who brought the duck meat to us) – but wouldn’t they end up slaughtering them, too? Who would keep a pet duck in these parts?

I also thought perhaps of releasing them in the wild. But I’m sure they’d be captured by some locals and then, inevitably, cooked for dinner.

Marc says we shouldn’t think so far ahead – that we should enjoy our time with the duckies. In the beginning, I didn’t want to touch them or spend too much time watching them because I didn’t want to get attached. Well, it’s too late for that now. They are adorable and I love watching them. When they sleep, cuddled up against each other, I love tiptoeing around the apartment so as not to wake them. I am up much earlier in the mornings now to check on them, because I know they’ll be hungry and eager to get out onto the balcony in the sunshine.

So I’m in a bit of a pickle. I know in two months, we’re going to have to make a decision about the ducks. I guess, as Marc says, for now I just need to enjoy and give them the TLC they deserve. What else can I do?

As for the Chinese crispy duck recipe, well, it turned out fabulous. It felt strange, going over to the balcony and watching the ducklings play, and then walking over to the stove and check on the duck in the wok.

For those of you who are interested, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:
soya sauce
Chinese Five Spice Powder
pepper and salt
a quarter of a duck or 4 duck legs or breasts, cut into pieces
sesame oil
1-2 tsp of finely chopped fresh ginger
1 large clove garlic
scallions
rice wine
oyster sauce
3 whole star anise
2 tsp black peppercorns
dried shiitake mushrooms

Method:
1. Marinate duck pieces overnight with 1-2 tablespoons of soya sauce, 1 tsp of the five-spice powder, pepper, a pinch of salt.
2. Remove stems and soak dried shiitake mushrooms overnight in a large bowl of water.
3. The next day, heat vegetable oil in a wok and add the duck pieces and cook until browned, then transfer to a plate and set aside.

4. Drain the fat from the casserole and wipe down. Add sesame oil and vegetable oil and heat.
5. Add chopped ginger and garlic, let sizzle for a few seconds. Return duck to casserole. Add rice wine, a few shakes of oyster sauce,star anise, peppercorns. Stir fry for a minute or so.
6. Pour the water from the shiitake mushrooms into the wok to just cover the duck.
7. Bring to a boil and let simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours, adding more water if necessary.

8. Drain the mushrooms and squeeze dry. Add to the duck and let simmer for additional 20 minutes. (Watch the water level: it should be low, duck should be simmering in a little sauce.)
9. Garnish with some chopped scallions on top and serve.

Most of the locals here are already wearing jackets, wrapped scarves around themselves, and taken out the knee-high fashion boots (lots of boots and short shorts here). Even when it’s sunny and 25, the girls are sporting the boots. Meanwhile, this Canadian is still in her t-shirt, leggings and flip flops. I will stay this way as long as I can.

Pumpkin, carrots and a cob of corn

My favorite part of autumn has to be the appearance of pumpkins at the grocery store. The sight of a round, sturdy, orange pumpkin just makes me smile.

Surprisingly, Halloween was a big deal here in Hong Kong. People were really into the holiday, dressing up in elaborate costumes and going out to parties or to Ocean Park for the annual Halloween bash (the entire amusement park becomes one giant haunted house, it’s pretty cool).

“Hong Kong people started to celebrate Halloween maybe about 10 years ago when Ocean Park first starting holding their annual celebration,” said my hairdresser, Larry Ho, whom I often consult when trying to understand local culture.

“We never grew up celebrating Halloween, so we really embrace the chance to dress up and be someone – or something else – for the day.”

I bought a little pumpkin just before Halloween and I put it on my writing table. For a couple of weeks, it was my muse.

Then, one day, I decided it was time to chop up that pumpkin and use it in a soup.

I grew up having the privilege of sipping, slurping and savouring delicious and healthy Chinese soups thanks to my most talented Cantonese Mom (Thanks Mom!) and as I have my own kitchen now, I’ve decided to continue that tradition.

I’ve made a variety of soups since moving here. Two favorites have to be Green radish and carrot soup 青红萝卜汤 － good for curing sore throats and phlegm – and Winter Melon soup 冬瓜汤 – a cooling summer soup that  is good for clearing “heat” in one’s body, according to traditional Chinese medicine.

Simmer simmer simmer

These days, I’ve been making a great autumn soup called 南瓜排骨汤 Pumpkin Pork Rib Soup. Here, try it at home:

Ingredients

500g pork ribs

1 small pumpkin or 1/4 Chinese pumpkin (these are bigger and more squash like)

2-3 carrots

1 corn on the cob

Directions

When I make soups, I usually start the process first thing in the morning so that by evening, all the flavours have had time to simmer and mingle in the pot. Plus: I don’t need to add salt.

If you’re on a time constraint, this can be done just a few hours before dinner; just know it won’t be nearly as flavourful.

1. Wash all ingredients

2. Boil a big pot of water

3. As the water is heating, chop up carrots, corn on the cob and pumpkin into small chunks. (Some people cut the skin off the pumpkin, but I leave it on. When it’s simmered in the soup, it will become soft. If you’re strapped for time, cut the skin off.)

Sweet, soothing, delicious Chinese soup - and healthy, too

4. When the water comes to a boil, put pork ribs and allow to cook for several minutes. (5 minutes or less)

5. Add carrots and corn into the pot and bring to boil. Then simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.

6. Add pumpkin. Pumpkin is added last as it cooks more easily.

7. Simmer all the way until dinner time!

Bringing dinner home

I’ve never been squeamish about food. One of my favorite dishes at dim sum is steamed chicken feet. I relish the soft, rich flavors of braised cow’s tongue. I grew up appreciating the textures and pungent aromas of various animal organs and innards.

There is a Cantonese saying: 背脊向天，都可以食. “Any animal whose back faces the sun can be eaten.”

It was, and continues to be, a motto I live by.

(EXCEPT I’ve recently decided not to eat Shark’s Fin – a Chinese delicacy that can sell for 100s of dollars a bowl – because of the cruel and inhumane ways in which the fin is acquired, not to mention the fact that sharks are endangered and that the Shark Fin industry is a huge criminal operation in Hong Kong…but that’s an issue for an upcoming post…)

The point is, I can’t even recall the numerous times I’ve watched my Mom hack up a soya sauce chicken at home for dinner.

It’s probably one of my favorite things to eat, ever. So I decided my first home-cooked meal to celebrate my new adventures in Hong Kong would be a classic Cantonese chicken dinner.

We’ve never bought a chicken live. In Canada, the chickens come plucked, beheaded and conveniently frozen or refrigerated in a clean, polished supermarket aisle.

Bravely, I marched over to the local market in my Kowloon neighborhood, anticipating I would have a live chicken slaughtered for dinner.

Did it happen? No. EPIC FAIL.

One walk down the “chicken aisle” in the market, and the sight of live chickens cooped up in cages -feathers, heads still attached and clucking away made me shudder. As I walked down the aisle, I noticed most of the stalls were dark and blue and white tape lined the walls indicating the area had been shut down by the Hong Kong department of health.

I was surprised by how quickly I was deterred. I knew there were many other places I could get chicken. So I retreated to the nearby supermarket. Maybe another day…

I bought a chilled chicken, a small one, and it cost $27 HKD, about $4 USD.

I decided to salt and pepper a chicken overnight and prepare a side dish of ginger and scallions to go along with it. Classic Cantonese fare.

At home, I took the chicken out of the bag to prepare it, grasping its thighs, one hand on each side of the body, sorta like holding a baby out in front of you….  and then OUTTTTTTT popped the neck over the sink – head and all. I saw the chicken’s eyes: closed, shut, like it was sleeping, or pretending to sleep? And its beak: small, hard, pale white, as it bobbed up and down before me.

And then, I, the one who eats “any animal whose back faces the sun” squealed and gasped and grimaced and oh so clumsily found a plate to plop that chicken down. I backed away.

The head would have to come off. But how to work up the courage to do it?

It took several minutes but I pulled myself together and then I took a big butcher knife, placed a white paper towel to cover the head of the chicken, and raised my blade up in the air.

BANG!

Down the blade came, making an indent in the neck. But the head did not come loose.

Again! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I didn’t cut off the chicken’s head. I hacked it off.

That night, we enjoyed our chicken dinner, along with brown rice and stir fried broccoli and chinese mushrooms. Tomorrow, some thoughts on Hong Kong etiquette and signage.

Chopping the green onion and ginger for the garnish…

Salt and pepper the chicken raw in a plastic ziploc bag overnight.

The next day, steam for half an hour to an hour depending on the size of the bird. I steamed this one for about 30 minutes. (Notice the hacked off head.)

Let it cool in the open air and then hack it up, and serve with brown rice and stir fried veggies. YUM!