Wisconsine-Sichuan Duck

On Saturday I had dinner with some friends at a local Chinese restaurant, which is best when you stick to the last two pages of the menu, where the Sichuan specialties are. Eric relates our dinner at length on his own blog. I agree with him that the duck was particularly fine. It was just finely sliced duck even more finely match-sticked red and yellow bell peppers. I know some people find duck a bit cloying at too fatty, but the slightly tart and crisp flavor of the pepper balanced it out better than I would have thought.

So I had to try my own version tonight, with a little twist. Rather than wait to thaw and quarter a whole duck, I indulged a bit and got a smoked duck breast (from Nueske's Farm — it was costlier than I recall from the last time I got it).

Ingredients:

• half that duck breast cut into 1/4in strips (the short length, not long)
  
• one red bell pepper, cut into strips
  
• one yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
  
• mirin
  
• light soy
  

Start your rice. Slice your peppers, and the duck. I took out about 1/5th of the peppers from each color and shoved them into a bag for later snacking. If you don't, you'll want to use more duck.

Get your favored frying device very, very hot. Add oil (peanut, by preference), then add the duck strips. Keep them moving, and when they've browned a bit, chuck in the peppers. Keep it all moving quickly. After the heat gets back to the pan (1-2 minutes), add a splash of mirin and a splash of soy (maybe 1tsp each). Cook until the soy and mirin are well reduced, the result should be nearly dry.

Eat, and delight how something so simple can be so tasty.