Crispy aromatic duck with pancakes is the most popular dish on Chinese menus throughout Britain, in spite of being a hybrid dish that combines the traditional presentation of Peking duck with the twice-cooked technique of Sichuan duck.

But I don’t think the magical ingredient is the duck, the richness of which quickly palls. It’s the pancake. Those lightly floury, steamy, slightly sweet Mandarin pancakes could be wrapped around an old boot and we’d love them, especially if they were first smeared with hoi sin sauce — again, not traditional, but better than sickly sweet plum sauce.

The accompanying spring onions and cucumber need to be matchstick-thin and there is a precise technique to achieve this: peel the cucumber and cut in half lengthwise, then scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut into 8cm (3in) lengths, then cut lengthwise into fine slices, then into fine matchsticks. Cut the green stems of the spring onions into 8 cm lengths, then use the tip of a sharp knife to cut lengthwise into matchsticks.

As for the pancakes, I have made them enough times to know that buying them is far easier. Luckily they are available in the freezer sections of Asian food stores (eg, Hoo Hing superstores at Chadwell Heath in Essex, Enfield, Hackney, Mitcham and Park Royal, and Wing Yip in Birmingham, Manchester, Cricklewood and Croydon) and in enlightened supermarkets. Serve them with your own roast duck or with this easy home-made version of Chinese char sieu roast pork.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Prep: 20 min plus marinading
Cook: 40 min

600g pork fillet
Half cucumber, peeled
4 spring onions
8 Mandarin pancakes, thawed
Hoi sin sauce for serving

Marinade:

2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp hoi sin sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Half tsp five spice powder

METHOD

Cut the cucumber and spring onions into matchsticks and chill. Heat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. Cut the pork into 15cm pieces and marinate it in the honey, hoi sin, soy, sesame oil and five spice powder for two hours or overnight. Place on a rack set above a roasting tray half-filled with water and roast for 30 minutes, basting once or twice with the marinade.

Brush with 1 tbsp of extra honey at the end of cooking and place under the grill for a minute or two, watching for burning. Rest it while steaming the pancakes over simmering salt water for 5 minutes, or wrap in foil and warm in a moderate oven for 10 minutes.

Finely slice the pork and arrange on a platter with the vegetables and hoi sin sauce. To eat, spread a teaspoon of hoi sin sauce on a pancake, top with pork, cucumber and spring onions, wrap like a nappy and eat.

www.timesonline.co.uk/foodandwine — for previous recipes from T2

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