“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.”
― Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere
Since this week’s theme was Smoking, it was only fitting to pick a book that begins and ends with fire: Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng.
Chinese food features heavily in this novel, so rather than using our Traegar and smoking barbecue, I used our Dutch oven to attempt some Chinese-style smoking.
This week’s meal was an interesting treat: Tea-smoked duck breasts and smoky lo mein.
The book
I loved this novel, a twisty tale of family drama and secrets in suburbia. The Richardsons have a comfortable, upper-middle class life. Traveling artist Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl, live unconventionally, never staying in one place for long. Their lives collide when Mia moves into the Richardsons rental house and the Richardson children spend more time with her and Pearl. Their lives further intertwine when both Mia and Elena take opposing sides in a legal battle over the adoption of a Chinese-American baby left at a fire station. Elena, a reporter, begins investigating Mia’s past. But Mia also knows secrets about Elena’s children as well. There are lots of characters in this novel and the POV switches several times, but I never lost track of the plot; each character’s storyline is expertly woven into the others. The writing is beautiful— I loved how Mia’s art and photography were described. And the author captures the strong emotions of adolescence particularly well. I can’t wait to watch the TV series.
The food
In the novel, Mia works at a Chinese restaurant and Chinese food makes several appearances in the novel. Mia takes home leftovers and repurposes them in various ways to feed herself and her daughter.
Tea-smoking duck or chicken is a technique common in Chinese cooking. Unlike southern barbecue, which uses wood chips to produce smoke and flavor the meat, tea-smoking uses a mixture of rice, sugar, black tea and spices to add flavor. And rather than cooking the meat in a free-standing smoker or pit underground, tea-smoking is usually done on a stovetop with a wok.
We don’t have central AC right now, so I definitely didn’t want to smoke up my kitchen. Following this recipe from the New York Times Cooking site, I used a cast-iron dutch oven and our grill to smoke the duck breasts.
First, rub the duck breasts with a mixture of salt, orange peel and ginger and let them rest in the fridge overnight. The next day, score the fatty side of the duck breasts with a knife and sear them off in a smoking hot cast-iron skillet, until they are dark golden brown on one side.
Next, make your smoking mixture. I used my favorite black tea, cinnamon sticks, star anise, rice and brown sugar. To make your smoker, line a cast iron Dutch oven with two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil, then pour the tea mixture into the bottom. Set the Dutch oven on your preheated grill — or stovetop, if you’re doing this indoors — and cook until smoke rises from the tea mixture.
Set a wire rack over the smoking tea and rest your duck breasts on it skin-side down. Then put the lid on the Dutch oven and crimp the edges of the aluminum foil around it, forming a good seal.
Smoke the duck breasts about 30 minutes, or until done.
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To accompany the duck, I also made this smoky lo mein from the New York Times Cooking site. The “smoky” part comes in after you boil the noodles and stir-fry the vegetables. Spread the noodles and vegetables on a sheet pan and toast them lightly with a kitchen torch. Then add them back to the wok and toss them with sautéed garlic, scallions and the lo mein sauce.
I served the lo mein with the sliced duck breasts and some steamed snap peas.
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The verdict? I’ve never cooked duck before, so I was wary of under/overcooking, but it turned out beautiful. I loved the smell of the tea-smoke and the flavor of the marinade. The fat on the duck breast didn’t stay crispy during smoking, so I think next time, I’d sear off the fat after smoking. I’d also like to try this tea-smoking method with chicken breasts. Torching the lo mein didn’t add any discernible smokiness, but I liked the recipe overall. It was easy, tasty and quick. Tea-smoking is a weekend project, but the lo mein will definitely make a reappearance as a weekend meal.
Next week: Berries