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RECIPE SWAP

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Here’s my favorite slow cooker recipe. I love Shanghai-style red-cooked duck — duck simmered in wine sauce spiked with sherry and seasoned with star anise — but had to relegate the dish to weekends until I adapted this recipe for my slow cooker.

– Jane Snow

RED-COOKED DUCK

1 whole duck, 5 to 6 lbs.
2 tbsp. oil
6 quarter-size pieces peeled ginger
3 whole star anise (available in Asian groceries)
2 green onions, cut in 2-inch lengths
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cups dry sherry
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup crushed rock sugar (available in Asian groceries)

Wash duck and cut off the tail and loose flaps of skin with poultry shears or a sharp knife.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown duck well on all sides.

Transfer duck to crockery cooker, breast-side down. Add remaining ingredients, including enough boiling water to barely cover duck. The amount of water will vary with the shape and size of the slow cooker.

Cover and Cook on high for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook about 6 hours longer, or until duck is very tender.

Remove and discard as much fat as possible. At the table, with chopsticks, pull duck meat from bones in shreds. Ladle some of the sauce over duck. Serve with rice. Save remaining sauce for flavoring stir-fries. Makes 4 servings.