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Foodbuzz 24, 24: An Asian Twist on a Traditional Holiday Meal

November 28, 2011 by Jennifer Che 17 Comments


I love this time of year.

There’s something about spending time with family, visiting friends, and listening to (and singing!) Christmas songs that fills me with so much joy. I love the holiday lights that begin to appear; I love the spirit of generosity that everyone has; and I love the countless opportunities to meet up with those we love – often over food!

 I love it all.

Typically, we travel during the holidays, either to Bryan’s hometown in California or my hometown in Ohio. This Thanksgiving, however, was a little different.

We didn’t hop on a plane the moment we got out of work. We didn’t rush from place to place, having no chance to settle. We didn’t feel a single ounce of travel-related stress.

Instead, we stayed home. Our new home(!).

We slept in!

I can’t remember the last time we had a chance to sleep in and really, really catch up on sleep.
 
It’s been great having the four day weekend to just relax at home. I was able to unpack some more (yes, we’re still not done!). I picked up some projects I hadn’t had time to finish.

And I cooked.

A lot.

For the first time in my life, we “hosted” a Thanksgiving meal in our new home! I invited my sister’s family over, and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner on Saturday.

In a nod to our families and cultural heritage, I took a traditional American holiday meal and added all sorts of Asian twists to it. It’s probably not too different from the meals that many Asian families are having in America during the holidays!  

1. Chinese Roasted Szechuan Peppercorn Duck Stuffed with Sticky Rice
As a “twist” on the traditional Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas goose, I decided to bake a bird that was decidedly more Chinese – the duck. The Peking duck is the most famous Chinese duck, but Chinese people just eat a lot of duck in general. Have you ever walked through Chinatown and seen all those ducks hanging in the window?

I’d never made duck before. Actually, I’d never made a turkey before either. I think the only whole bird I’d ever roasted was chicken, and that was over a year ago. Heck, I don’t even own a roasting pan. As a result of my lack of experience, I did tons of research before settling on a method that I thought would create the juiciest and most flavorful duck.

Start with a Liberty Pekin duck and generously dry-brine it with a mixture of salt and crushed fragrant Szechuan peppercorns (one of my favorite spices of all times). You want to make sure both the outside and inside cavities are well covered. Using your fingers, separated the skin from the meat. This allows the fat to render more quickly, which helps create a crispy skin. If possible, rub the salt/peppercorn mixture inside the cavity directly onto the meat. This will help flavor the meat a lot.
After letting the duck dry overnight in the refrigerator, pour hot boiling water over the duck. This allows the stretched out skin to shrink and tighten back towards the bird. After allowing the duck to dry, roast the duck upright (using a beer can) for about 1.5 hours, rotating every 30 minutes. Let the duck rest for about 10 minutes before stuffing with Chinese sticky rice. Carve and serve!

2. Duck Fat Taro Home Fries

A holiday meal is not complete without a starch of some sort! Instead of the traditional mashed potatoes, I decided to make duck fat taro “home fries”. Taro is a common root used prolifically in Chinese cuisine. We eat it mashed, boiled, sweet, savory, hot, cold . . . the possibilities are endless. Here, I took the rendered duck fat from the roasted duck and used it to pan fry cubed taro pieces. With a sprinkling of sea salt, these fried taro pieces were divine.

3. Stir-fried Chinese Long Beans with Garlic

Vegetables are huge in Chinese cuisine, and you’d be hard pressed to find a meal without them. Instead of the traditional green bean casserole you see at holiday meals, I’ve stir fried Chinese long beans in garlic and soy sauce.

Have you ever seen Chinese long beans before? They can grown up to three feet long, and resemble American green beans, although they are less crispy but have more “heft” and therefore and withstand longer cooking times.

The whole dinner – plated!
This is it! We all enjoyed a complete Asian-inspired Thanksgiving meal, complete with roasted duck, taro home fries, stir-fried long beans, and sticky rice!

Of course, no holiday meal is complete without dessert, and I made sure not to skimp on that.

4. Kabocha Pumpkin Mochi Cake

Instead of the traditional pumpkin pie that inevitably makes its appearance during holiday meals, I baked a kabocha pumpkin mochi cake instead. This dessert is inspired by Japan – both in the use of the kabocha pumpkin and also the mochi-nature of the cake.
I started off by roasting a kabocha pumpkin in the oven and mashing the roasted pumpkin flesh. I then used the recipe I had used in round 8 of Project Food Blog (an unusual take on pumpkin), replacing traditional pumpkin with kabocha pumpkin.
The resulting mochi cake was beautifully chewy, with just a hint of pumpkin and sweetness. 

5. Eggnog Tarts

One of my favorite Chinese desserts is the egg tart (dan ta), a flaky, crispy crust filled with a delicate egg custard. I modified the traditional Chinese egg tart by adding Bourbon, a key ingredient in eggnog. Optionally sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on top.

I made a butter-based crust instead of the traditional Chinese lard-based crusts, since lard is a bit harder to access.

I poured bourbon-laced egg custard into the mini-pie crusts (borrowed from this post) and then baked until they were done. The resultant egg tarts were flaky, crispy, and soaked up extra bourbon beautifully. Yes, my brother-in-law discovered that these taste even better if you dip them in bourbon. Definitely try serving it doused in bourbon – it’s quite good!

My sister is as big of a fan of Totoro and Keroppi as I am, so I knew she would love these cookies. Indeed she totally did. Her favorite were the Totoros (she said the ears were nice and crispy), although in general she loved the green tea (matcha) flavor of the cookies.
I spent many hours this weekend perfecting and executing dozens of these little guys. Despite the fact that it was tedious, time-consuming, and laborious, I had tons of fun. It was so exciting to see the Totoros and the Keroppis come to life as I slowly created them, piece by piece (and yes, there are many steps!).

We had a wonderful time just chilling, eating, and relaxing with family. I think I finally feel reasonably comfortable cooking a large holiday meal. Granted, a duck is probably not as difficult as a turkey. Still, it was a nice challenge and something I’m happy to have tried. Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for sponsoring this post as part of their 24, 24 series for November.

Can’t wait until Christmas!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I was unable to include all the recipes for all these items in this post. Watch out for detailed posts this week and next with recipes and tutorials for how to make all this stuff!

Update – Detailed recipe posts!
Beer Can Oven Roasted Duck
Taro “Fries”
Chinese Long Beans with Garlic
Kabocha Pumpkin Mochi Cake
Chinese Eggnog Tarts
Matcha Totoro Cookies
Matcha Keroppi Cookies

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Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Chinese Recipes Tagged With: duck, thanksgivingtraditions

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Chinese Oven Roasted Duck »

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Comments

  1. Emily Ku says

    November 28, 2011 at 3:24 am

    Wow that looks like a yummy Thanksgiving!!

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  2. Wasabiprime says

    November 28, 2011 at 11:39 am

    The cookies are insanely cute — kudos to making such adorable desserts crafted with such care! And the duck info is super helpful. I love duck, but have never prepared one! Your tips are valuable as well as inspiring. And I love how the duck looks sitting upright in the oven on a beer can. “What’s up, world? I’m cooking!” Delicious.

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  3. Bianca Garcia says

    November 28, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    I would definitely prefer duck over turkey! Love this Asian take on a traditional Thanksgiving meal. And love the keroppi cookies – it reminds me of my childhood!

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  4. Laura says

    November 28, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    What a delicious-looking Thanksgiving dinner, especially that duck!  This reminds me of my childhood Thanksgivings when my grandfather would stuff the turkey with a similar rice stuffing and baste the turkey with a soy-based sauce. 

    Is the beer can duck idea yours?  It’s a great way to roast a duck, and I can’t wait to try it and look forward to your recipes.  Thanks!

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  5. talida says

    November 28, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Awesome Thanksgiving dinner!! I especially love all the desserts! And you say you’re not a baker.. I’m glad you found time to take on some projects over the holiday 🙂

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  6. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 28, 2011 at 7:07 pm

    Thanks! It was quite yummy – I was so relieved! The greatest compliment to a chef is when your guests can’t stop eating your food. 🙂

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  7. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 28, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    Thanks so much Denise! I was surprised how stable the beer can was! I was really afraid the duck would topple over, but it’s surprisingly stable!

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  8. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 28, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    Yah, I think I prefer duck over turkey too! And I heart Keroppi! He was always one of my favorites growing up (was never as much of a Hello Kitty person, though I think she’s cute too).

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  9. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 28, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    Yep! I used a soy based glaze too!!

    No, the beer can idea is not mine! I think it’s been done a lot with chicken, and I read about using the idea on Serious Eats. 🙂 I agree – it’s a great way to roast duck! It gets golden brown all the way around!

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  10. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 28, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    Thanks Talida! This was a very easy shortbread recipe! I’m definitely more of an artist than a true baker. It was like playing with Play-doh. So fun!

    I actually used your matcha cookie recipe as inspiration for my own! Because you added 2 tablespoons of matcha powder to your Martha Stewart icebox cookie recipe, I decided to do the same! (I had no idea how much to add, otherwise!), so thanks!

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  11. adancerinthekitchen says

    November 29, 2011 at 1:05 am

    Jen, what a beautiful 24×24! Your little cookies are adorable!

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  12. foodalogue says

    November 29, 2011 at 8:57 am

    I like your twist! In the family rotation, Thanksgiving does not fall on me to cook but if it did, I’d give it a different cultural twist each year.

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  13. Alice C. says

    November 29, 2011 at 5:50 pm

    AHH!!  TOTORO COOKIES!!!  Please tell me you had a cookie cutter for this  ^__^ And that duck looks amazing 🙂

    (On another Totoro related note:  Wherever did you find those white totoro-ish figurines? ;d)

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  14. jentinyurbankitchen says

    November 29, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    Thanks Alice! Heh, I actually did NOT have a Totoro shaped cookie cutter. You’ll see in tomorrow’s post how I made them!

    The Totoro figurines were hand carried (by me!) back from a toy shop called Kiddie Land in Omotessando Hills in Tokyo. 🙂

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  15. shannon says

    November 30, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    so awesome, i love the picture of the bird cooking, too 🙂

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  16. Joy says

    November 30, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Everything looks so great.  I love the keropi cookies.

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  17. SiliconValleySousVide says

    December 1, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    Beautiful presentation!  I love love love duck.  Did a traditional Turkey this year, but did it “decontructed” sous viding the white meat and dark meat separately.  It was fantastic!  Will try your duck next!

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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