Menlu Kaoya, Closed-Oven Duck

Menlu, the closed-oven method: no flame touches the bird, only the heat left behind by burnt straw.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Oven with a stone or steel, Bicycle pump or air compressor, Hooks and twine, Fan for drying
Allergens: Gluten, Soy, Sulphites
Method: 38 steps · 29 photographed · 11 filmed
Components: 4 made from scratch
Films: 3, 24 min

4 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Air separation and scald

Film

Air pumped between skin and flesh, then the bird scalded with boiling water until the skin tightens.

Skin sitting on meat renders into the meat and goes leathery. Lifted off, the fat drains and the skin crisps on its own.

Whole duck000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 6
Time: 45 min
Hands-on: 45 min

Makes 1 duck

No — the day before service

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Maltose wash

Film

Maltose let down with rice vinegar and hot water, brushed over the scalded skin in three coats.

Honey burns and sugar syrup goes sticky. Maltose is what gives the lacquer colour without tasting sweet.

Maltose000 g
Rice vinegar000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 4
Time: 30 min
Hands-on: 20 min

Makes Coats 2 ducks

Mix on the day

Weights and method unlock on purchase

The drying

Film

The glazed bird hung in cold moving air for a full day until the skin feels like paper.

Everything else in this recipe is preparation for this step. A damp bird steams in the oven and no oven setting rescues it.

Glazed duck000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 3
Time: 1 days
Hands-on: 10 min

Makes 1 duck

Requires 24 hours; plan two days

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Mandarin pancakes

Film

Hot-water dough rolled in pairs with sesame oil between, cooked dry and peeled apart.

Bought pancakes crack when they are folded. Rolled in pairs they come off half the thickness you can roll by hand.

Plain flour000 g
Boiling water000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 8
Time: 1 h
Hands-on: 45 min

Makes 20 pancakes · freeze up to 2 months

Up to 2 months ahead, frozen in stacks

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Whole duck000 g
Maltose000 g
Rice vinegar000 g
Shaoxing wine000 g
Star anise000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

3 films · 24 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING9:00

Which duck to buy, and why the supermarket bird fights you

TECHNIQUE7:00

Pumping air under the skin without tearing it

KIT8:00

Turning a domestic oven into a hanging oven

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 38 STEPS

29 photographed · 11 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 29 of the 38 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 11 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: judging when the skin is dry enough to roast — step 23 of 38.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 32 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

3 things Zhao Wenbin watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
Drying in front of a fan, not in the fridge
What to do about it
02
Carving skin and meat separately
What to do about it
03
What to do with the carcass the same night
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The maltose wash strength and the drying hours, which is what decides whether the skin shatters or bends.

Written by Zhao Wenbin. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $14.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

809 verified cooks · 96% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $14.99 ONCE

809 people cooked it, 96% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $14.99 rather than nothing. It has reached the top of the ladder.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription