Crispy Duck & Hoisin Lettuce Cups

Ingredients

• 2 duck breasts, skin scored
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
• 0.5 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
• 2 little gem lettuces, leaves separated
• salt and pepper
• 4 spring onions, shredded
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Pat the duck breasts bone dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crackling skin. Season generously with salt and pepper, pressing the salt into the scored fat.
2. Lay the breasts skin-side down in a cold, dry frying pan, then turn the heat to medium-low. Starting cold lets the fat render slowly instead of seizing — you want a steady quiet sizzle, not a roar.
3. Render for 8–10 minutes until the skin is deeply golden and shatter-crisp, and the kitchen smells unmistakably of roast duck. Pour off the rendered fat into a heatproof bowl as it pools (save it — duck-fat roast potatoes are a gift). Don't crowd the pan; if your breasts are large, cook them one at a time so the skin crisps rather than steams.
4. Flip and cook another 3–4 minutes for blushing pink — an internal 54°C carries up to 58°C off the heat. Lift onto a board, season with another pinch of salt, and rest for 5 minutes. The juices should bead on the surface, not run.
5. While the duck rests, lift the pan off the heat and pour out all but a teaspoon of fat. Splash the hoisin straight into the warm pan with a tablespoon of water, and swirl over a low heat for 20–30 seconds — it will loosen, gloss up, and lift the duck-y bits stuck to the base. That's your sauce, not a paste.
6. Slice the duck thinly across the grain. Taste a slice with a dab of the hoisin pan sauce — adjust now, not at the table; a final pinch of salt may be all it needs.
7. Separate the little gem leaves and arrange them on a platter like little boats. Pile the cucumber matchsticks and shredded spring onions alongside.
8. Fill each lettuce cup with a few slices of warm duck, a tangle of cucumber and spring onion, and a proper spoonful of the glossy hoisin pan sauce. Scatter with toasted sesame seeds and sliced red chilli, and bring straight to the table.