Teochew Braised Duck

Another one for the journal:Link

Duck bones are so much harder to chop through than chicken bones!!! It takes real skills to chop up a whole cooked bird. The cantonese chefs make it look so easy when you see them chopping up the meat by the window, don't they? But it truly takes practice to (1) get the precision when chopping and (2) be able to gauge the right amount of strength to use. It's quite hard to get equal cuts without (1) and it's hard to prevent flying pieces and broken bones without (2).  No one wants broken bones in their pieces of meat! It's truly the most annoying. 

The other highlight for me personally is my sambal oelek sauce. Used raw garlic and thai chili peppers in a 2:1 ratio by weight. I did not deseed the peppers (ain't a weak sauce). Blitz that up in a blender or food processor with some vinegar and sugar in a 3:1 ratio by volume. Just add, blitz, taste, adjust. You might need 1-2 tsp of water to bring it together into a nice sauce. Remember to add some salt. Balance out the heat, sweetness, saltiness, and sourness ... and ta-da! you're done! you have on your hands some sambal oelek! 

I used 2oz of chilis... for that I added ~4tbsp white vinegar (I think). Added 1 extra tbsp of vinegar (without sugar) as I do like my sauce slightly more tart.