Some questions related to the Duck Soup

Thank you guys for the enthusiasm in my Duck soup!

This post will aim to address some queries from friends with regards to the method used for the soup in my previous posting.

1) Why did I use skinless duck?

Ducks are very fatty birds, with the skin, the soup will turn out very fatty and may also end up being too “ducky” in taste. The fats in meat usually adds stronger smell to the dish, e.g. Lamb fats.

Even without the skin and fats, the broth can still be wholesome from prolong boiling, extract flavors from the bones.

**The amount of fats i ladled out from the soup before adding the salted vegetables**

2) Why separate the meat?

The meat tend to “melt” away after prolong boiling, which spoils the soup’s appeal and texture. Separating the meat helps keep the meat chunky yet tender rather then soggy. Then again, it is at the same time very subjective to the people you are serving the soup to, my dad, for an example likes the meat in his soup really tender.

3) Why do we soak the salted vegetables?

Some other recipes only asked for blanching, however, i prefer soaking as it helps at the later part of the cooking. In many occasion of preparing the duck soup, the salted vegetable’s flavor tend to overpower the duck’s, thus resulting on a very “flat” flavored soup, which longer boiling hours will not help.

In order to prevent the irreversible outcome, i rather use salted vegetables that is less salty and add accordingly later. Furthermore, some brands of salted vegetable tend to be much saltier then other, which becomes very tricky for first timers.