Ingredients:

Duck:

• 1 duck – approx. 2.4kg in weight. Innards removed.
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Plum Sriracha sauce:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 red onion – peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 4 cloves garlic – minced
• 600 g ripe plums – de-stoned and cut into small (1 cm pieces) – no need to take the skin off
• 6 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 4 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar – if you don’t have any you can use white wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp sriracha

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F. Take a large roasting tin and place a wire rack inside.
2. Pat the duck down with some kitchen paper to ensure the skin is dry.
3. Score the skin of the duck in a criss-cross pattern (breast side) with a sharp knife. Be sure not to pierce the flesh.
4. Place the duck – breast side up – on the rack in the roasting tin.
5. Season with salt and pepper, and place in the oven for 3 hours 30 minutes. Turn the duck over every hour (I use a clean kitchen towel in each hand to turn the duck over).
6. Whilst the duck is in the oven, make the plum sriracha sauce.
7. Heat the oil in a medium sized sauce pan.
8. Add the onion and cook on low-medium for 5 mins – until the onion is soft. Give it a stir every minute or so.
9. Add in the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute.
10. Add in the rest of the ingredients, turn up the heat and bring to a gentle bubble. Turn the heat back down to medium and allow everything to bubble gently for 20 minutes. Give it a stir every so often.
11. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and blend the mixture in the pan using a hand blender. I like to give it just a few pulses so the sauce still has some texture. Leave to one side.
12. After the duck has cooked for 3 hours 50 minutes, take it out of the oven and turn the oven temperature up to 190C/375F.
13. Turn the duck so that it’s breast-side-up again and brush 2 tbsps of the plum sriracha sauce all over the top of the duck (including the legs).
14. Place back in the oven for 10 minutes until the glaze has gone dark brown and caramelised.
15. Take the duck out of the oven. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, then place on a large plate and shred all the meat using two forks.
16. Serve immediately with some of the plum sriracha sauce. I also like to serve it will some rice and greens.