Doesn’t everyone love Crispy Duck from the Chinese? And as such it’s the most expensive on the menu! However there is a way you can enjoy Whole Chinese Crispy Duck at a portion of the price, all be it cheating slightly! Here’s how…

1. Go to local Sainsbury’s and purchase Whole Crispy Peking Duck usually around £12 but now on offer at about £10. In my local Sainsbury’s it’s in the meat section with the Duck rather than with the Chinese meals.
2. Purchase cucumber and spring onions (pancakes and hoisin sauce are included)
3. Bring home and cook – it even comes in it’s own roasting tin!

It really is almost that simple, but here are my top tips to make it even nicer

• Cook on a lower heat than recommended and for slightly longer
• During and after cooked drain fat and juices from the duck into a container and put into fridge (the fat is great for roasting potatoes and stock great to add to gravy and sauces)
• When cooked through remove meat and crispy skin from the bird and shred with a fork, return to the roasting tin, mix up and pop back into the oven for about 20 minutes

Then all that’s left is to enjoy with a glass of your favourite tipple, it really does taste as good as you get from a Chinese.

I really love this, so if you give it a go don’t forget to let me know what you think and don’t forget it’s on offer at the moment (01/12/2011) so is even better value for money.

The Whole Duck variety doesn’t appear on the Sainsbury’s website, however you can find the half duck version by searching by item number 0395960 at www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries
(please note half duck includes cucumber and spring onions, whole duck doesn’t! In my humble opinion, from experience, the Whole Duck cooks better and is better value.)

Oh and you can wash and reuse the roasting tin, if you wish, until it’s worn out and then it can just be recycled.