Red-Cooked Duck Breasts

A classic Chinese cooking technique called red-cooking involves building an intense broth layered with spice, soy and sweet wine. In this, you braise meat until tender with a deep reddish-brown sheen. Flavour-potting is a related technique, where you top up and reuse the aromatic cooking liquor. Some of Beijing’s top restaurants claim their flavour pots are twenty generations old!

Star anise, ginger and cassia are added whole to infuse their flavour without disrupting the smooth glo